What’s this about?
The Built Environment & Health (BEH) project is an interdisciplinary program of research at Columbia University. Led by epidemiologist Andrew Rundle, BEH uses spatial data to examine the implications of the built environment, including land use, public transit, and housing, for physical activity, diet, obesity, and other aspects of health. With a focus on New York City, BEH research will inform public policy to promote health in the city and metropolitan area. BEH is affiliated with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholars program at Columbia.
In the Press
Media Coverage of the Built Environment and Health Project
What’s new with the BEH project? As the program grows, check this page for press coverage of our latest research and initiatives.
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Lack of Access to Services Taxing for Poor
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | March 15, 2007
Some poor and black communities are so bereft of services and retail that residents are forced to pay a ‘time tax,’ either extra money or loss of personal time, to access basic services.
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Summer in the City: Interning at Columbia
Columbia News | August 3, 2006
“It is the summer before her senior year in high school and Catherine Chong is opting for what most adults in the work force dread: a one-and-a-half-hour daily mute—each way—to work.”
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Aesthetic Features of Pedestrian-Friendly Cities
Health and Society News | June 1, 2006
“This work provides a rare opportunity to explore whether aesthetically pleasing city environments promote health by encouraging walking. As more and more cities collect spatially-referenced data on local land use and the built environment, digital measures of urban design can be used more widely.”
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Mailman School Researchers Studying Link Between Obesity and Urban Environment
Columbia News | March 13, 2006
“The more mixed an area, the skinnier people are,” according to Rundle. “Mixing supports walking, it supports incidental activity and it makes you independent of an automobile.”
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Can a City Make You Fat?
Toronto Star | January 27, 2006
“At the south-east corner of Thompson and West 3rd in Greenwich Village, Andrew Rundle stops and turns around. ‘Look,’ he says, pointing in all directions. ‘There’s a grocery store on every corner’.”
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Urban Health Study Examines Link Between Body Size, Built Environment
Columbia News | December 14, 2005
“Urban policymakers need research generalizable to their locale if they are to make informed decisions about the costs and benefits of zoning, economic development, public transit and other matters that may shape physical activity.”
