Investigating The Connection Between Urban Sprawl and Obesity

Obesity, shown to lead to many health problems including cancer and heart disease, is becoming an epidemic in the United States, costing billions of dollars. Although there are many contributors to this epidemic, recent studies have proposed that urban sprawl may be a cause. This thesis will build on one of these studies and provide even more support to the idea that obesity and urban sprawl are connected. In addition, the different types of sprawl indexes that can be created and the tradeoffs among them will be examined and shown to play an important role in examining the effects of urban sprawl on obesity. * I would first like to thank my advisor Geoffrey Rothwell for all his support throughout this long and arduous process. In addition, I would also like to thank Russ Lopez for his guidance in helping me to achieve my results. Finally, I would like to thank all my family and friends for all their support and motivation. 1 1