Obesity is a major public health issue, affecting both developed and developing societies. Obesity increases the risk for heart disease, stroke, some cancers, and type II diabetes. While individual behaviours are important risk factors, impacts on obesity and overweight of the urban physical and social environment have figured large in the recent epidemiological literature, though evidence is incomplete and from a limited range of countries. Prominent among identified environmental influences are urban layout and sprawl, healthy food access, exercise access, and the neighbourhood social environment. This paper reviews the literature and highlights the special issue contributions within that literature.
Keywords: exercise access; fast food; food desert; obesity; social environment; sprawl; urban configuration.