Please carefully read the series of?”American Walking” articles from Slate Magazine. Your reaction paper should include how factors associated with individuals’ transportation decisions that are brought up in the article correspond with determinants of physical activity described in chapter 10. Please state how the articles are directly related to what has been covered in the textbook or lecture. You are welcome to use examples from your own life but you must also integrate theories of behavior, including, but not limited to the role of the physical environment, social environment, and culture. I will provide one of classmate’s paper for example.

The papers may also include personal experiences and general impressions but they need to be clearly tied to course content. The papers must be at least 500 words, in 12-point font, double spaced, and with 1-inch margins.

?”American Walking” article:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B19q9gJb6InyOHcwVXdlQXZua1U/view

PSY 476
Reaction Paper 3
4/5/16

The articles featured in Slate Magazine highlight the dramatic decline of
pedestrian walking in the United States and how it?s affecting physical activity in our
country. According to the textbook and the articles, walking is declining, as more
and more people are choosing different modes of transportation such as using cars
or riding the bus. Other factors causing the decline of walking include more people
living farther away from the places they work or commute to everyday. There is also
the lack of awareness for this problem. As cycling has their own organization where
it could be something that could be a hobby or the reason for a social gathering,
walking is seen as something ?pedestrian?, or a thing of the past. As stated in the
article The Crisis of American Walking, people are forgetting that walking needs to be
encouraged and promoted to better the health of the population overall.
There are also environmental factors that are causing the overall decline of
physical activity. More people are choosing the easier modes of transportation to
avoid physical activity or exertion. Even when people are walking, they?re choosing
escalators over stairs to get to their destination. According to the textbook, the
urban environment is becoming more ?passivogenic?. This means that architects are
creating buildings with the idea of having fewer stairways and more escalators or
elevators. Fewer sidewalks and areas where there are no fitness centers are also
contributing to the spread of obesity. This can also be very dangerous to the safety

of people in these areas. Fewer sidewalks can cause more pedestrian accidents and
fatalities that could have been avoided if more time was spent on building better
walkways. Socially, being muscular is ideal in our society, so you?d expect a lot of
people going to fitness centers. Some of the drawbacks though is people simply
don?t have the time or money to afford to go to these places.
According to the Walk Score article, the average score of the largest 2,500
cities in the U.S. was a measly 43 out of 100, which is classified as ?car dependent?.
Several reasons for this score is because most homes that can support families are
not located in areas where there are grocery stores, schools, restaurants and other
amenities just a walking distance away. The houses that are located in these
metropolitan areas are priced so high that only the top tier can afford them. The
Walk Score also helps to bring awareness to areas where there is a need for
improvement.
I live in a town where most amenities have to be reached by car. I also
commute everyday into Honolulu to go to school and work. Luckily, I have the time
to walk a lot, because of my job as a waiter. Most of the time I?m not thinking about
how many miles I?ve walked a day because it?s something that doesn?t cross my
mind. The Walk Score article interested me because I really want to live in an area
where a car is not needed to get around the city. Cities such as New York City, San
Francisco or Chicago are prime examples of places where the Walk Score is very
high. I believe that if we promote and spread the message of how much walking can
help to improve our overall health as a country, we can better a lot of lives.