Courtney Coughenour (Environmental and Occupational Health) co-authored an "Analysis of Self-Reported Walking for Transit in a Sprawling Urban Metropolitan Area in the Western U.S." that was published in a special issue of Sustainability, focused on urban sprawl and sustainability.

The design of the Las Vegas community is so sprawling, which is likely to impact many factors related to decisions to walk. The researched looked at perceptions of neighborhood walkability as a predictor for walking. The authors found that examining characteristics specific to sprawl resulted in a better estimate of walking, suggesting that efforts to increase walking should take such design characteristics into account.