"The suburbs are a nightmare — a total planning disaster. People move in because they're affordable, and then they can't do anything. They're in the car all the time. You get this big house, but studies show that the rate of heart attack increases with the length of time you are stuck in traffic."
Dr. Kim Connelly, cardiologist, is talking about Australia, but no matter what continent, he is not a fan of suburbs. In Canada on a research grant from the Australian government, he has his studded tires on, but the tires are on his bike. This 36 year old physician cycles through all four seasons from his home in on Helena Street in west-end Toronto to the two hospitals, St. Michael's and Sunnybrook, where he's researching heart disease and diabetes.
When he and his wife Amanda chose their home, a three-storey detached, they needed a place that had space enough for their three children and was close to a good school. But a prime factor was the timing for Dr. Connely's trip to work.
"I believe in practising what I preach," he says. "I cycle for the health benefits, and if you have to spend too much time, you tend not to do it. Twenty or thirty minutes gives me a decent ride every day."
Dr. Kim Connelly cycles through all four seasons from his home in west-end Toronto to the two hospitals, St. Michael’s and Sunnybrook, where he’s researching heart disease and diabetes.
The home is an easy walk to the subway, supermarket, pharmacy, drycleaner and a host of small restaurants. There's also a park nearby. Would Dr. Connelly be willing to live in a suburb?
"No I wouldn't."
He's not alone in his thinking. A recent study, Neighbourhood Environments, and Resources for Healthy Living: a Focus on Diabetes in Toronto, by Ontario's Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences and St. Michael's Hospital, points up a link between diabetes and neighbourhoods where opportunities for physical activity are limited.
"Your neighbourhood may be making you sick," says Dr, Gillian Booth, co-lead author of the study and an endocrinologist with St. Michael's. She notes that one in two Canadians is now overweight, a factor in diabetes and other diseases, including heart disease.
"Regularly walking briskly five times a week is a great health benefit," she says. "Living in an activity-friendly neighbourhood, one where you can walk to different activities is now shown to be an advantage in avoiding disease. In some of the suburbs, there are no sidewalks, let alone any grocery stores or community centres or schools within walking distance. Often, access to public transportation is limited too."
But there are some strong lures to the suburban lifestyle, like a large, often luxurious home.
28-year-old Kristy Koo, mother of four-month-old baby Ethan, loves the hardwood floors, double-sided fireplace, soaker tub in the master bathroom and granite kitchen countertops of the four-bedroom home she and her husband Raymond purchased for $325,000 three years ago in the Mississauga suburb of Meadowvale. But the location means driving — and lots of it. "We have two cars, she says. "We tend to drive everywhere. We shop at Erin Mills shopping centre or perhaps Square One. With the car, I have a lot of flexibility."
Mississauga real estate agent Tom Lebour says a home in a subdivision such as Ms. Koo's can be purchased for around $400,000, a price point that appeals to couples with young families. "In the older sections of the suburbs like Port Credit or Clarkson, there are areas with shops and cafes and nearby amenities. But young couples with families can't afford 2,000 square foot homes with four bedrooms in those areas," he says. "That type of home would be more in the range of $700,000. Subdivisions have great amenities, hockey rinks and community centres, schools and libraries, but you do have to drive to them. The drive might only be ten or fifteen minutes. A lot of buyers are very comfortable in subdivisions."
However, evidence that driving is hazardous to health is mounting. In one U.S. study, researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California found that children who lived within 500 metres of a freeway from the age of 10 had substantial deficits in lung function by the time they were 18. According to the Sierra Club, a significant body of scientific evidence is emerging linking pollution from motor vehicles to asthma, lung cancer and premature death.
Agent Anne Lok has a clientele that is largely based in downtown Toronto that can be fanatical in their desire to be able to walk to work.
"Like everybody, they want the most space for their money," she says. "But some, being younger, do not yet even own a car. They walk and bike everywhere. They are interested in places like Roncesvales, Leslieville and King Street West, that are little villages that have main drags for shopping and so on. A big house that results in a lot of driving is more expensive than it seems, if you add on the cost of transportation."
One of Ms Lok's clients is Chis Shaw, 30, who works in the financial district. He enjoys a three minute walk to his office from the condo he shares with fiancée Veronica Manco at Victoria and Richmond. Now, the couple plan to rent out the condo, a 700-sq.ft., one-bedroom unit purchased for $190,000 just over a year ago. They are moving to a two-storey, three bedroom town home at Jarvis and Shuter, which they purchased for $300,000. It has more space, two balconies and a wall of windows facing onto a shared courtyard. It's minutes by foot from every amenity.
"I want to live where I work and work where I live and not introduce driving into my life," Mr. Shaw says. "Veronica particularly wants to be in the heart of everything. That way, we don't have to own a car at all."
Living within walking distance of day-to-day necessities is no guarantee of a long life, a life free of lung disease or diabetes. For one thing, there are many factors cited in the ICES/St. Michael's study, that predispose to diabetes, not the least of which is poverty. "A family living in poverty has one hit against them," Dr. Booth notes. "Add to that an area that is not accessible, and they have a double hit."
And yet in the study areas such as Regent Park, Parkdale and St. Jamestown fared better than expected, in terms of incidence of diabetes. "These are areas where people can walk to things they need and have access to services," Dr. Booth points out.
Dr. Connelly's views are tempered by reality too. "I am well enough paid that I can afford to live where I do," he says. "However, I do think it is important to try to incorporate physical activity into everyday life. I am always telling people to quit smoking. This is the same. If I tell 150 people something and I have an impact on one person, the effort is worthwhile."
Special to The Globe and Mail
