How can your neighborhood nudge you toward healthier behavior?
Dr. Arterburn and UW/KPWHRI team go hyperlocal with $2.67-million Moving to Health award from NIDDK on ‘built environment’
Where people live may matter to their health, weight, and well-being. For instance, some neighborhoods in King County, which includes Seattle, have lots of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Meanwhile, in other communities—some just a mile or two away—people are healthier.
What accounts for these differences?
The Moving to Health project is taking a hyperlocal approach to pinpoint what matters most about individual neighborhoods for their residents’ health. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) recently funded the project for $2.67 million over 5 years.
“Your family might move to a neighborhood with home values similar to your previous neighborhood’s—yet with added amenities that could help your family become healthier,” says study co-investigator Anne Vernez Moudon, Dr es Sc, a UW professor emeritus of urban design and planning at the UW College of Built Environments.