Quick Links: Architecture Encourages Movement

The NY Times recently spotlighted a building going up in the Bronx that is allegedly “designed to combat obesity.” (Click here.) The building is the first to incorporate ideas from New York City’s Active Design Guidelines.

In addition to a backyard with exercise equipment for adults and climbing equipment for children, they’ve installed—get this—”two flights of stairs, which have lime-green railings, small silhouettes of dancing women and jazz playing through speakers.”

That has got to be the most obnoxious, annoying staircase in all of New York. But I digress.

You know? Kudos, I guess. We all need more movement in our lives, there’s no doubt about that. Every time I see another study about how sitting is killing us, I get nervous about all the time I spend on my bum. But are people really going to choose the jazzy staircase over the elevator?

On top of that, if you haven’t read Taubes by now, I strongly suggest you do. Exercise makes you hungry. And when you’re reaching for all the stuff of the SAD to refuel, I’m afraid those burned calories just aren’t going to make much of a difference.

Verdict: 1 step forward, 3 steps back.