Greenway Design and Planning for Healthy Community

Traditional greenway design and planning have focused more on ecological, historic and recreational values. However, the current focus of greenway planning is also shifting to community health. This concern arises out of observations on obesity and physical inactivity as two of the most serious health problems in the United States which greatly threaten the quality of life in the country. Research has shown that spatial proximity of greenways and communities will increase greenway use. Greenways have been shown to be a popular location of physical activity. The positive relationship between physical activity and health has also been verified by various studies. Based on this, this paper proposes to improve the connections between greenways and communities, for the purpose of increasing the level of physical activity, and ultimately improving community health.