ABSTRACT
The built environments in which individuals live, work, and spend their time, are hypothesized to influence rates of obesity, and overall health, through two main interconnected pathways: individual behaviors and environmental exposures. This chapter explores the role of the behaviors (physical activity, diet, and social interaction) and the exposures (air pollution, noise, greenspaces, heat, and crime and safety). This chapter also summarizes the current understanding of the relationship between these built environment features, such as neighborhood walkability, transportation networks, and park access, and rates of obesity in the population. To date much of this work has examined aggregate neighborhood-level exposures; however, additional methods are currently being applied to measure and quantify individual interaction and exposure to built environment features more accurately.
