[Grishnakh]

>I've lived in 'burbs all my life, and most people are pretty happy with it. I mean it's nice to have a forced exercise program with "walkability" but it's hardly critical

Given the obesity epidemic in America this days, I think you're wrong here about the criticality of walkability. Go to Manhattan sometime and see if you can find any fat people. Now go to suburban Atlanta and see how many people are so fat they need motorized carts just to shop at Walmart.

[ArkyBeagle]

Bluntly, I don't think we understand the obesity problem.

[Grishnakh]

I think a lot of it is fairly obvious: diet and exercise. My evidence is pretty simple: look at cultures (including local cultures) where everyone drives everywhere, versus cultures where everyone walks everywhere. You just don't see morbidly obese people in cultures where they're forced to walk a lot; it's mainly an American and Western phenomenon (it's worst in America and Mexico). Diet is probably another big factor: in obese cultures, calories are cheap, but the food quality is generally very poor.