Report on Public Health and Urban Sprawl in Ontario

 Executive Summary

This report summarizes pertinent information on the relationship between urban sprawl and health. It serves to identify the key issues that are relevant to the growing number of sprawl-related health problems in Ontario which is comparable to US situations and is far worse compared to Europe.

The best available evidence indicates that greenspace is an essential part of human health. People cannot continue to lead healthy lives without sufficient farmland to produce local food, forests to help purify the air, and protected watersheds to provide safe drinking water.  Neither of these complementary goals - protecting environmental systems and protecting human health - can be accomplished, however, without curbing urban sprawl.  By setting aside one million new acres for a Greenbelt in southern Ontario, the provincial government has taken strong steps towards protecting the environment, and building stronger, healthier, more compact communities.  Other connected strategies, such as the proposed Growth Plan and the Planning Reform initiative, will also play key roles in controlling sprawling growth.

In this document, the pathway from urban sprawl to public health via vehicle emissions and air pollution will be examined, along with reviews of the relationship of sprawl to increased driving.  Sprawling urban developments leads to increased driving, which results in increased vehicle emissions that contribute to air pollution and its attendant negative impacts on human health. Health effects of traffic-related air pollution, at both the local and regional levels, are described using Toronto and Ontario mortality and morbidity data. The effects of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions on morbidity and mortality, particularly with reference to respiratory disease (including asthma), cardiovascular disease, and reproductive health are summarized. Some cancers such as leukemia in children have been linked to exhaust toxicants. Furthermore, the increased greenhouse gas emissions that result from a car-dependent society are counter-productive to the Canadian commitment to the Kyoto Protocol.