Date: April 11, 2006 (Tuesday)
Time: 12:30 - 14:00 (sandwich lunch from 12:30 - 12:45; seminar begins at 12:45)
Venue: Seminar Room 5, LG/F, Laboratory Block, Faculty of Medicine Building, 21 Sassoon Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong

Abstract:
Cross-sectional studies document a variety of linkages between the built environment and health related outcomes. To date, limited research has documented whether or not personal preferences for neighborhood type or the built environment itself explains observed differences in travel and activity patterns. This presentation will explore the current evidence on the ability to disentangle community design from attitudinal preferences that shape behavior. Original research will be presented from the Atlanta based SMARTRAQ program where data were collected on travel patterns and health related outcomes including physical activity and body mass index, and preferences for neighborhood choice. A conceptual model and theoretical framework and new results will be presented that suggest that both preference and objectively measured neighborhood design impact the choice to walk or amount driven. Results also suggest increased complexity in predicting obesity based on community design once neighborhood preference and demographics are controlled.

Bio-sketch:
Lawrence Frank is the Bombardier Chair in Sustainable Urban Transportation Systems in the School of Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia. He specializes in the interaction between land use, travel behavior, air quality, and public health. He is a registered landscape architect, holds a masters in civil engineering transportation planning, and a doctorate in urban design and planning from the University of Washington. Dr Frank leads the Federal Transit Administration/King County funded LUTAQH project which assesses the relationships between urban form and climate change in the Seattle Region. This effort is being conducted in close partnership with the Center for Clean Air Policy and is the focus of this presentation. Dr Frank is also the principal investigator of a research program based in Atlanta known as SMARTRAQ – or Strategies for Metropolitan Atlanta’s Regional Transportation and Air Quality funded by the US Department of Transportation, Georgia DOT, Georgia Regional Transportation Authority, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Turner Foundation, and the Environmental Protection Agency which through extensive land use, travel behavior, and physical activity data collection is now testing the relationships between time use, physical activity patterns, travel choice, urban form, and air quality. Dr Frank is Co- PI on a US National Institutes of Health project with Dr James Sallis (PI) and Dr Brian Saelens (Co-PI) based in the Central Puget Sound and Baltimore to test the effects of the built environment on physical activity patterns.