To walk or not to walk.

College is the time in a young adult’s life that behaviors and attitudes are developed.  This makes the information and activities they take part in vital to their development, especially their active living development.  The article in the Journal of American College Health by Susan B. Sisson, PhD; James J. McClain, PhD; Catrine Tudor-Locke, PhD focuses on walkability on college campuses.  It compares college campuses to high density communities and analyzes the distance walked and the amount of steps students take in a week.  These statistics were then compared to the built environment of two college campuses, ASU-Tempe and ASU- Polytechnic.  The Tempe campus has many destinations within walking distance, has sidewalks on every street, and is built on a grid that isolates vehicle traffic.  While the Polytechnic campus has fewer walkable destinations, has very few sidewalks, and is laid out along a road with lots of vehicle traffic.  The results showed that the built environment of the ASU Tempe campus is more conducive to pedestrian behavior than the Polytechnic campus.  The results also showed walking for transportation helps students to meet recommended daily physical activity levels.

This article applies to the transportation part of my research.  If we can create a campus that encourages walking and/or using sustainable transportation (ie. bikes and buses), TAMU would benefit physically and environmentally.