More Parks Don't Mean More Walking: Study

Truer words were never spoke.

People who live within a half-mile of lots of parks and fields go on fewer walks than those who don't have much parkland nearby, a new study from Australia suggests.

The findings run contrary to the notion that people get more exercise and are healthier when they have access to outdoor recreation, researchers said.

It's possible, they added, that urban neighborhoods with few parks may instead have lots of cafes, schools and community centers that facilitate walking for transportation.

But regardless of what explains the results, they "provide important evidence that the relationship between park area and levels of walking is far from straightforward," according to Tania King from the University of Melbourne and her colleagues.

It is not the built environment.

It is the Calories, stupid.

And parks, etc., are like shiny objects to the fat and their enablers.

You must be a gross idiot to think/believe that the built environment will make a real difference.