Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures, tables and maps
- Acronyms
- About the author
- Acknowledgements
- one Introduction
- two Being sensible
- three Governing behaviour change in risky environments
- four Obesity and strategies of rule
- five The incidentally sensible city
- six Events and the lucratively sensible city
- seven The sensible drinker and the persistence of pleasure
- eight Spatial governance and the night-time economy
- nine What life is this? Some concluding thoughts
- Bibliography
- Index
five - The incidentally sensible city
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 September 2022
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures, tables and maps
- Acronyms
- About the author
- Acknowledgements
- one Introduction
- two Being sensible
- three Governing behaviour change in risky environments
- four Obesity and strategies of rule
- five The incidentally sensible city
- six Events and the lucratively sensible city
- seven The sensible drinker and the persistence of pleasure
- eight Spatial governance and the night-time economy
- nine What life is this? Some concluding thoughts
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Health and wellness reflect the nature of the interface between ourselves and the environment … The illness we get may be seen as telling us what is wrong in that interaction. (Wilkinson 2005: 8)
Preventative population-level interventions having to do with the built environment and the food environment may lead to health benefits for the entire population, not just the obese population; and some interventions may reduce body fat among the obese population even without large concomitant changes in weight. Enhanced efforts to provide environmental interventions may lead to improved health and future decreases in the prevalence of obesity. (Flegal et al 2010: 241)
Introduction
This chapter explores the nature of what has been termed the ‘obesogenic’ environment (Swinburn et al 1999). It does so in the context of the manifold and variegated efforts that try to address national and local rates of obesity in two cities in the US and UK: Austin, Texas and London. The comparison of these two national and urban settings is crucial, if only to dispel the assumption that America is distinctly and particularly obesogenic (Lang and Rayner 2007). In so doing, the chapter also aims to provide a counterpoint to related assertions that the UK ‘looks like America in every way … The question we all need to ask ourselves is, do we really want the world to look, feel and taste just like America?’ (Spurlock 2005b, n.p.). The assumption that America represents the UK's destiny may be common, but it is also highly improbable. However, and as Marvin and Medd have suggested, the turn to the exemplar of the US is useful in order to ‘see where the rest of the world is going’ (2006: 314) and, therefore, the kind of future health we might expect. However, this may be wishfully simplistic thinking; as geographic approaches to health remind us at the most fundamental level, the landscapes of risk that characterise the US health experience cannot and will not be a universal endgame.
The obesogenicity of an environment is defined by Swinburn et al as ‘the sum of influences that the surroundings, opportunities, or conditions of life have on promoting obesity in individuals or populations’ (1999: 564).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Governing Health and ConsumptionSensible Citizens, Behaviour and the City, pp. 81 - 116Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2011