The Association between Urban Sprawl and Obesity: Is it a two-way street

ABSTRACT: In this paper we examine the relationship between obesity and the characteristics of metropolitan counties where individuals reside. Previous empirical analyses have treated urban form as exogenous to weight status. These studies find higher body mass indices (BMI) for residents of areas with development patterns associated with urban sprawl (e.g., low residential densities, poor street connectivity). The main purpose of this paper is to test whether BMI is a factor that explains the location decisions of individuals. We estimate a two-equation system with BMI and the latent variable determining the choice of a high or low sprawl county as endogenous variables. Our results support the hypothesis that BMI is a factor in determining the attributes of an individual’s residential location. In particular, individuals with greater BMI have a higher probability of living in high sprawl counties. In contrast, we find limited evidence that living in a sprawling county increases BMI. Our results suggest that the association between sprawl and obesity reported in earlier studies is due largely to self-selection rather than to impacts of the urban environment on physical activity and weight