Built Environment

The place we live – even beyond the four walls that make up a home – matters. Overall health is closely tied to the quality of someone’s built environment, which entails access to spaces many of us take for granted like parks, libraries, and community spaces. 

Places for people to gather make it easier and safer for families to socialize and build strong, supportive relationships, and also help people recover from the stress of day-to-day challenges. These benefits are even more pronounced in women and minority groups, who are more likely to experience health disparities and poor mental health.  (see Frequent Mental Distress, Depression and Anxiety).

Studies have shown that in urban areas, paved sidewalks and nearby parks increase the surrounding population’s physical activity which in turn decreases the prevalence of obesity and diabetes. Further, parks and green spaces have been shown to impact cognitive function: improving memory, learning ability, and even academic performance among children. 

The benefits of accessible and safe community spaces during pregnancy are well-documented. For pregnant women, respiratory and mental health problems exacerbated by one’s environment can increase the risk of preterm birth and low birth weight (see Preterm Birth and Low Birthweight). Prenatal exposure to air pollutants in particular has been linked to stillbirth and congenital anomalies. In contrast, access to parks (and other open land areas) has been associated with increased birth weight and a lower likelihood of preterm birth. This highlights how one’s physical environment not only impacts women at the individual level but their families as well.

Conversely, poor-quality built environments – think vacant lots, deteriorating neighborhoods, close proximity to highways or power plants, and high traffic and noise pollution – are associated with higher rates of respiratory disease, learning and behavioral issues, stress, anxiety, and depression. 

Low-income or racial/ethnic minority communities are more likely to reside in low quality built environments as a result of purposeful, exclusionary practices in past architectural design and zoning ordinances. The consequences of the historical practices have worsened health inequities and continue to be felt in many places today, including in Oklahoma.