The Intersection of Transportation, Land Use, Environment, and Public Health

1. Mobile regions, healthy people:Exploring the transportation – land use – environment – public health connection Lake Arrowhead Symposium October 2005 Genevieve Giuliano University of Southern California

2. Subtitle: The benefits and costs of automobility • Another subtitle: the benefits and costs of cheap transportation • The costs – a long and growing list • The benefits – a list increasingly ignored • Focus on human costs and benefits

3. Genevieve Giuliano Costs • Congestion • Health effects of pollution • Traffic crashes • Physical activity?

4. Private Vehicles Source: NPTS/NHTS

5. Basic stats: 5 county urbanized region

6. LA/OC Urbanized Area Source: Texas Transportation Institute

7. LA/LB largest container port in US, 5th in world SCAG 2005 State of the Region

8. Air pollution • Growing recognition of health hazards of small particulates • SCAQMD studies • USC health panel studies • Role of goods movement, international trade • Large increases in truck traffic, port activity • Jurisdiction issues • Increasing marginal costs of emissions reductions

9. Other problems: PM10 and PM2.5 SCAG 2005 State of the Region

10. PLA Emissions: NO2/PM10

11. PM 10 emissions sources – POLA

12. Adverse Health Impacts • USC researchers have discovered: • Deaths increased by up to 17% for each increase of 10 micrograms per cubic meter of PM 2.5 particles. • Deaths from heart disease rose by as much as 39%. • More lung cancer deaths also occurred. • Children near freeways have 89% higher risk of developing asthma

13. Cancer deaths per 1 million persons Source: SCAQMD MATES II

14. Clusters of Concern Source: LA Weekly 9/23-29/05

15. Traffic safety 2004 Source: NTSA 2004 Statistics

16. Top 10 leading causes of death by age group, 2002 Source: NTSA 2005

17. Physical Activity • Physical activity “engineered” out of daily life • Fewer high activity jobs • More labor saving devices • More leisure time • More TV and video games • More motorized travel • Shifts in travel significant, but represent small proportion of daily activities

18. Summary of results, hours/day

19. Benefits • Access to….. • jobs, education • preferred housing, neighborhoods, amenities • social networks • health care • consumer goods and services • Transportation as equalizer

20. Access to jobs • Auto vs transit access to jobs • Studies show transit access much inferior, even in cities with extensive service • Transit travel times • Transit schedule, service mismatches • Spatial mismatch • Patterns of population, job decentralization • Where jobs are vs where workers are • Job mobility • Job turnover • Careers and sequential jobs

21. Access to housing, neighborhoods • Varied preferences for housing, neighborhoods • Preferences for single family detached • Niche markets • West Hollywood, Santa Monica, San Marino • Community attachment • Attachment to “place” • Social networks • Jobs/housing balance • Longer commutes make possible more preferred job and residence choices • Residential mobility lower than job mobility • Access to parks, recreation, other amenities

22. Access to social networks • Mobility and well-being among the elderly • Social integration key problem for elderly • Social roles, social networks • Psychological importance of out-of-home activities • Seniors identify mobility as critical element in life satisfaction • Car as freedom, independence, means for mobility • Cessation of driving • Loss of independence, social isolation, reduced access to essential services • Distributed families, friends and cheap air travel

23. Access to health care • Problems of the uninsured • As more providers avoid treating uninsured, access to healthcare declines • Difficulties in transporting the sick, frail • Transit not an option in an emergency • Problems of the insured • Provider restrictions • Finding the best possible care

24. Access to consumer goods and services • The poor pay more • Captured markets • Limited variety of food, consumer goods in low income neighborhoods • Living in a “food desert” • Banks and financial services • Competition and scale economies • Target, Wal-Mart not all bad

25. Transportation as equalizer • Options to address spatial disparities • Disperse the poor among the non-poor • Promote jobs, economic activity in poor, minority areas • Provide transport to overcome spatial segmentation • The first two options face many barriers; transport becomes the default

26. Conclusion Automobility has large costs and large benefits. The policy challenge is to reduce the costs while preserving the benefits.