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Associations Between Worksite Walkability, Greenness, and Physical Activity Around Work

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Abstract

This article explores the role of the work environment in determining physical activity gained within and around the workplace. With most adults spending more than half of their waking day at work, the workplace is a promising venue for promoting physical activity. We used a sample of 147 employed women—median age = 53 years old; 42% meeting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) physical activity recommendations—wearing a GPS device and accelerometer on the hip for 7 days to assess location and physical activity at minute-level epochs. We analyzed the association between geographic information systems (GIS) measures of walkability and greenness around the workplace and the amount of physical activity gained while in the work neighborhood. Our results showed that working in high walkable environments was associated with higher levels of moderate to vigorous physical activity while at work, and with higher moderate to vigorous physical activity gained within the work neighborhood. Increasing walkability levels around workplaces can contribute to increasing physical activity of employees.

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... Our results show that there is a discrepancy in park allocation between working and residential situations. and Marquet et al. (2020) claimed that being busy and having a high proportion of working phenomenon lead to inefficient green space utilization around workplaces, which supports our results. The EUA index further considers differences in the time and opportunities for residents to visit parks in different living situations. ...
... As the important central business districts (CBDs) of Shanghai, these two subdistricts have a large working population, but they have good accessibility, which may be related to the economic level (Gu et al., 2020;You, 2016;Zhang, Yue, et al., 2021), with high financial capacity paying more attention to the construction of public infrastructure such as parks. Convenient transportation may also enhance access to parks (Kang et al., 2017;Marquet et al., 2020). At the same time, we found that the Huamu and Zhangjiang subdistricts in Pudong have a high UPA in the working situation. ...
... Nonetheless, following our concern, some studies have indicated that people lack leisure opportunities in the workplace (Marquet et al., 2020;Wu, Chen, et al., 2019). Therefore, we expect parks near the workplace to be attractive. ...
Article
Fast-paced life places significant pressure on urban residents. Park green space can improve human well-being, reduce work stress, and contribute to physical and mental health. However, parks may not be sufficiently used. The static assessment of park accessibility ignores different situations in residents' daily lives, which may lead to an incomplete evaluation. This study measures urban park accessibility (UPA) in working and residential situations in central Shanghai. It develops an effective utilization accessibility (EUA) index to assess the integrated supply and availability of parks by considering the dynamic spatiotemporal behavior of residents. The results show that several subdistricts have high EUA, and the spatial allocation of parks is inequitable. The rich park resources in the city's central area cannot be fully used by residents. There is an obvious distinction between the UPA values of the working and residential situations. Thus, we suggest that in future urban park planning, the working situation should be incorporated, and the functions and distribution of parks should be considered specifically for target groups. According to our findings, the EUA index is valid. It can sufficiently reflect the spatial equity of urban park allocation and inform park planning and design.
... Use of accelerometry data is starting to provide new evidence on the association between walkability and physical activity worldwide (Sallis et al., 2016;Vanhelst et al., 2013), in dense urban spaces (Rundle et al., 2016), among particular demographic groups (King et al., 2011;Hirsch et al., 2016;Rodríguez et al., 2012), and across several domains (Yang et al., 2014;Marquet and Hipp, 2019; (7):20-26.; Marquet et al., 2020). Use of device-based measures is also advancing in green space studies Halonen et al., 2020), where accelerometers have extended evidence linking greenness with increased physical activity among children (Almanza et al., 2012;Lachowycz et al., 2012;Ward et al., 2016) and adults (Dewulf et al., 2016). ...
... GPSbased activity spaces include all movements during the day for all purposes and with any mode of transport ; (Marwa et al., 2021), and they can later be paired with GIS data to measure environmental exposures (Ward et al., 2016;Chaix et al., 2013;. Recently, researchers have used the triad of GPS location, GIS exposure, and sensor-based physical activity outcomes to create a transdisciplinary field coined as "Spatial Energetics (Marquet et al., 2020;James et al., 2016). Linking behavioral and spatial data facilitates the examination of location and physical activity at precise spatiotemporal scales (James et al., 2016). ...
... Shifting from a restrictive focus on residential environments to activity space measures allowed us to account for environmental exposures in the diverse places visited by participants (Chaix et al., 2017). Thus, we were able to include daily physical activity that takes place away from residential neighborhoods (Marquet et al., 2020;Hurvitz et al., 2014;Kestens et al., 2018). ...
Article
Introduction Built and natural environments may provide opportunities for physical activity. However, studies are limited by primarily using residential addresses to define exposure and self-report to measure physical activity. We quantified associations between global positioning systems (GPS)-based activity space measures of environmental exposure and accelerometer-based physical activity. Methods Using a nationwide sample of working female adults (N=354), we obtained seven days of GPS and accelerometry data. We created Daily Path Area activity spaces using GPS data and linked these activity spaces to spatial datasets on walkability (EPA Smart Location Database at the Census block group level) and greenness (satellite vegetation at 250m resolution). We utilized generalized additive models to examine nonlinear associations between activity space exposures and accelerometer-derived physical activity outcomes adjusted for demographic characteristics, socioeconomic factors, and self-rated health. Results Higher activity space walkability was associated with higher levels of moderate-vigorous physical activity, and higher activity space greenness was associated with greater numbers of steps per week. No strong relationships were observed for sedentary behavior or light physical activity. Highest levels of moderate-vigorous physical activity were observed for participants with both high walkability and high greenness in their activity spaces. Conclusion This study contributes evidence that higher levels of physical activity occur in environments with more dense, diverse, and well-connected built environments, and with higher amounts of vegetation. These data suggest that urban planners, landscape architects, and policy makers should implement and evaluate environmental interventions to encourage higher levels of physical activity.
... Second, greenness may have different impact mechanisms on individuals' travel behavior in their residences, workplace, and actual travel space, resulting in different dynamic green exposures. Prior studies found that the attractiveness of workplace greenness to individuals' physical activity is not as good as that of their residences and determined a negative correlation between greenness and PA frequency around the workplace (Troped et al., 2010;Marquet et al., 2020). Marquet et al. (2020) pointed out that in addition to the lack of leisure opportunities in the workplace, the degree of urbanization, which has a negative correlation with greenness in their research, might be a more vital factor that affects individuals' behavior. ...
... Prior studies found that the attractiveness of workplace greenness to individuals' physical activity is not as good as that of their residences and determined a negative correlation between greenness and PA frequency around the workplace (Troped et al., 2010;Marquet et al., 2020). Marquet et al. (2020) pointed out that in addition to the lack of leisure opportunities in the workplace, the degree of urbanization, which has a negative correlation with greenness in their research, might be a more vital factor that affects individuals' behavior. Therefore, in the workplace context, the influence of urbanization density, traffic convenience, and land use mix on individuals' behavior is greater than that of greenness (Cervero, 2002;Maat and Timmermans, 2009;Kang et al., 2017;Marquet et al., 2020). ...
... Marquet et al. (2020) pointed out that in addition to the lack of leisure opportunities in the workplace, the degree of urbanization, which has a negative correlation with greenness in their research, might be a more vital factor that affects individuals' behavior. Therefore, in the workplace context, the influence of urbanization density, traffic convenience, and land use mix on individuals' behavior is greater than that of greenness (Cervero, 2002;Maat and Timmermans, 2009;Kang et al., 2017;Marquet et al., 2020). The above studies also emphasized the links between living, working, and other environments and the possibility of compensatory behavior. ...
Article
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Urban green spaces are beneficial to residents’ physical and mental health, but their spatial distribution is unequal. Green justice studies typically use static administrative areas as contextual areas to evaluate green spaces, which can lead to biased estimations, as it ignores daily mobility. However, the phenomenon that actual perceived green exposure may be averaged by daily mobility has yet to be tested. Based on a survey of Beijing residents’ working, living, and daily travel environments, this study measures respondents’ static and dynamic green exposure and tests whether dynamic green exposure intensifies or alleviates green inequality from living and working environments. The following results are obtained. (1) From the perspective of weekly travel, individuals living or working in a satisfactory green space environment have high levels of dynamic green exposure. (2) The difference in the amount of greenness of communities will lead to the further polarization of dynamic green exposure for trips beyond 2000 m from home. (3) When working in an environment with poor green space and street greenery quality, trips beyond 2000 m from the workplace will have high-quality and efficient dynamic green exposure. This study tests and reports on the disparity in dynamic green exposure under different static geographical backgrounds, which complements theoretical research on green justice.
... Most of the studies were undertaken in the USA (n = 25, 45.5%) and the UK (n = 13, 23.6%), accounting for around 70% of all studies. All of the studies reviewed sampled working adults while some studies examined the associations in question for particular population subgroups such as women [38,63], parents [24,50], specific nationalities [19,36,51,67,68], commuters [34,46], and workers working in an university [28] and local governments [65]. Sample sizes ranged from 26 to 111,808, of which three had a sample size lower than 100 [23,53,67] and five with a sample size larger than 10, 000 [36,51,58,61,65]. ...
... The transport domain was most commonly examined in relation to both physical activity (40 out of 52 studies) and sedentary behaviour (7 out of 7 studies). Nearly half of the studies used validated outcome measures, including accelerometers [14,21,23,40,53,60,62,63] and questionnaires with acceptable i-a. reliability and validity [16, 17, 21, 26-28, 31, 32, 34, 36, 37, 44, 45, 49, 50, 54, 61, 64, 67, 68]. ...
... A vague boundary (e.g., near or surrounding the workplace) was the most commonly used as a perceived neighbourhood definition. When buffers were applied to define workplace neighbourhoods, a 400- [40,57,63] or 800-m radius [14,40,45,64] and the network buffer [18,23,40,46,64] were the most frequently used buffer size and type, respectively. ...
Article
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Background: Many desk-based workers can spend more than half of their working hours sitting, with low levels of physical activity. Workplace neighbourhood built environments may influence workers’ physical activities and sedentary behaviours on workdays. We reviewed and synthesised evidence from observational studies on associations of workplace neighbourhood attributes with domain-specific physical activity and sedentary behaviour. Methods: The systematic review. Published studies were obtained from nine databases (PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, Scopus, Transport Research International Documentation, MEDLINE, Cochrane, Embase, and CINAHL) and crosschecked by Google Scholar (PROSPERO registration number CRD42019137341). Observational studies with quantitative analyses estimating associations between workplace neighbourhood built attributes and workers’ physical activity or sedentary behaviour were included. Studies were restricted to those published in English language peer-reviewed journals from 2000 to 2019. Results: A total of 55 studies and 455 instances of estimated associations were included. Most instances of potential relationships of workplace neighbourhood built attributes with total or domain-specific (occupational, transport, and recreational) physical activity were non-significant. However, destination-related attributes (i.e., longer distances from workplace to home and access to car parking) were positively associated with transport-related sedentary behaviour (i.e., car driving). Conclusions: The findings reinforce the case for urban design and planning policies on designing mixed-use neighbourhoods where there are opportunities to live closer to workplaces and have access to a higher density of shops, services, and recreational facilities. Studies strengthening correspondence between the neighbourhood built attributes and behaviours are needed to identify and clarify potential relationships.
... Within these studies associations were seen between higher PA facility density within workplace areas and higher walking rates [28], and lower body mass [29], and variations seen between home and workplace areas for built environment correlates of MVPA [13]. A recent study based in the US found that including both home and work neighbourhood walkability strengthened positive associations with MVPA in the work neighbourhood for females (home neighbourhood MVPA not included within PA outcomes) [34]. Other US based research found home neighbourhoods' and workplace neighbourhoods' bicycle and recreation facilities [32], and walkability [33] to be positively associated with PA, however both papers used respondent perceptions of neighbourhood features only which may not correspond accurately to objective measures [35]. ...
... For THAW respondents, workplace postcodes were more likely than home postcodes to be located within built-up urban centres (66% of workplace postcodes located in large urban areas compared to 56% of home postcodes). Both THAW home and workplace neighbourhoods appeared to play a role in influencing health behaviours, as found by previous US-based studies looking at access to recreational facilities and BMI [29], and walkability measures and MVPA [13,34]. Two of these US studies found that built environment features of the home neighbourhoods were more influential for the particular health outcomes than workplace neighbourhoods [13,29], which agreed with findings for the non-stratified analysis within our study, while Marquet et al. 's [34] findings suggested that the combination of home and workplace neighbourhood walkability was more powerful in explaining workplace environment PA than the workplace neighbourhood alone. ...
... Both THAW home and workplace neighbourhoods appeared to play a role in influencing health behaviours, as found by previous US-based studies looking at access to recreational facilities and BMI [29], and walkability measures and MVPA [13,34]. Two of these US studies found that built environment features of the home neighbourhoods were more influential for the particular health outcomes than workplace neighbourhoods [13,29], which agreed with findings for the non-stratified analysis within our study, while Marquet et al. 's [34] findings suggested that the combination of home and workplace neighbourhood walkability was more powerful in explaining workplace environment PA than the workplace neighbourhood alone. The authors argued the home environment could potentially influence PA behaviours and habits that are then extended to the work environment. ...
Article
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Background Over a third of the Scottish population do not meet physical activity (PA) recommendations, with a greater proportion of those from disadvantaged areas not meeting recommended levels. There is a great need for detailed understanding of why some people are active while others are not. It has been established that features within home neighbourhoods are important for promoting PA, and although around 60% of time spent in exercise daily is undertaken outside the residential environment, relatively little research includes both home and workplace neighbourhood contexts. This study utilised an existing west central Scotland survey and spatial data on PA facilities to examine whether, for working adults, there are links between access to facilities, within home and workplace neighbourhoods, and frequency of PA, and whether such associations differ by socio-economic group. Methods Using a Geographic Information System (GIS), home and workplace postcodes of a sub-sample of ‘Transport, Health and Well-being’ 2010 study respondents (n = 513) were mapped, along with public (i.e. public-sector funded) and private (i.e. private-sector funded) PA facilities (e.g. sports halls, gyms, pools etc.) within 800 m and 1600 m path/street network buffers of home and workplace postcodes. Using Analysis of Variance, associations between spatial access to PA facilities (i.e. facility counts within buffers) and self-reported PA (i.e. days being physically active in past month) were analysed. Models were run separately for access to any, public, private, and home, workplace, and home/workplace facilities. Associations were examined for all respondents, and stratified by age and income deprivation. Results Respondents’ PA frequency was associated with spatial access to specific types of facilities near home and near home or workplace (combined). In general, PA frequency was higher where individuals lived/worked in closer proximity to private facilities and frequency lower where individuals lived/worked nearby to public facilities. Results varied by age and income deprivation sub-groups. Conclusion This research contributes to methods exploring neighbourhood contextual influences on PA behaviour; it goes beyond a focus upon home neighbourhoods and incorporates access to workplace neighbourhood facilities. Results demonstrate the importance of examining both neighbourhood types, and such findings may feed into planning for behaviour-change interventions within both spaces.
... An Australian study (Barr et al., 2019) found that working at the most walkable areas (defined as having 10 to 12 types of destinations within an 800m street network buffer) was associated with 8.7 extra minutes of walking for any purposes, compared to working at least walkable areas (<4 destination types). Marquet et al. (2020) found positive associations between workplace walkability (measured with either WalkScore© or a land use-based index) and accelerometer-based PA in female employees in the USA, both in PA while at work and PA within the proximity of work. Lin et al. (2022) found that lower workplace walkability (measured with WalkScore©) was associated with more time spent sitting in cars and less time sitting in public transport in desk-working adults in Japan. ...
... Our primary results were in line with other studies conducted on objectively measured walkability at workplace in other parts of the world, including Howell et al. (2017), Barr et al. (2019) and Marquet et al. (2020) who found significant association between workplace walkability and total walking or objectively measured-PA. Our study strengthened these findings by using a more precise outcome, namely commute walking. ...
Article
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Current evidence on neighborhood walkability and active commuting focuses on residential rather than workplace environment. This cross-sectional study investigated whether higher workplace walkability (WW) was associated with commute walking, both independently and together with residential walkability, using data from 6769 respondents of the 2017 Dutch national travel survey. In a fully adjusted logistic regression model, 10% increase in WW was associated with 32% higher odds of commute walking (Odds ratio (OR): 1.31, 95% Confidence Interval (CI: 1.27–1.36). The estimates were stronger in rural dwellers than urban residents, (ORrural 1.49, 95%CI: 1.34–1.64 vs ORhighly.urban 1.19, 95%CI: 1.13–1.26). In participants with both high residential walkability and WW, we observed 215% higher odds (OR 3.15, 95% CI: 2.48–3.99) of commute walking compared to those with low walkability in both. Our study indicated the importance and complementary nature of walkable residence and workplace in contribution to physical activity of working individuals through active commuting.
... transport sedentary time). While some studies have investigated where people are the most and the least active (Prince et al., 2019), few have matched GPS and accelerometer data within a geographic information system (GIS) to examine the GIS-measured environmental correlates of sedentary behaviors (Bejarano et al., 2019;Marquet et al., 2022Marquet et al., , 2020Rodríguez et al., 2012). From a public health point of view, objectively-measured data on behaviors, locations and exposures are critical to examine whether specific neighborhood environmental attributes enhance or hinder accumulation of sedentary time (Cerin et al., 2016). ...
... This study departs methodologically from existing evidence by examining the environmental correlates of sedentary behaviors based on activity space exposures; whereas most studies typically examined only the environmental characteristics of residential neighborhoods (Marquet et al., 2022(Marquet et al., , 2020Rodríguez et al., 2012). This work falls within the field of "spatial energetics" (James et al., 2016), combining GPS, GIS, and accelerometer data, to examine how the built environments surrounding the daily visited locations influence location-based and trip-based sedentary behaviors. ...
... Traditionally, most environmental exposure assessments have taken the residence location or the workplace as a proxy for people's environmental exposures [4,5]. Using geolocated addresses has been a major step forward from using just the administrative neighborhood [6]. ...
... The 20-m buffer corresponds to the average street width in Barcelona [79]. To capture the range of dynamic exposure we used a 20-m buffer around all walking tracks accumulated by each participant throughout each participating day (Fig. 3, right) following [5,14]. We chose a 20-m buffer because the GPS accuracy cannot distinguish which side of the street the participant is using and thus covering the whole street width was deemed necessary. ...
Article
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GPS technology and tracking study designs have gained popularity as a tool to go beyond the limitations of static exposure assessments based on the subject's residence. These dynamic exposure assessment methods offer high potential upside in terms of accuracy but also disadvantages in terms of cost, sample sizes, and types of data generated. Because of that, with our study we aim to understand in which cases researchers need to use GPS-based methods to guarantee the necessary accuracy in exposure assessment. With a sample of 113 seniors living in Barcelona (Spain) we compare their estimated daily exposures to air pollution (PM2.5, PM10, NO2), noise (dB), and greenness (NDVI) using static and dynamic exposure assessment techniques. Results indicate that significant differences between static and dynamic exposure assessments are only present in selected exposures, and would thus suggest that static assessments using the place of residence would provide accurate-enough values across a number of exposures in the case of seniors. Our models for Barcelona’s seniors suggest that dynamic exposure would only be required in the case of exposure to smaller particulate matter (PM2.5) and exposure to noise levels. The study signals to the need to consider both the mobility patterns and the built environment context when deciding between static or dynamic measures of exposure assessment.
... Most prior studies have implicitly assumed that all walking trips occur within a residential neighborhood (Adams, Bull, & Foster, 2016); however, such an assumption ignores the fact that individuals are exposed to other environments throughout the day (Liu et al., 2020;Lin et al., 2020). Thus, studies that neglect environments other than residential areas may misevaluate the association between the built environment and walking (Marquet et al., 2020). Given that most employees spend half their day at work (Hipp et al., 2017), workplace neighborhoods that encourage walking behaviors are crucial to compensate for the time spent doing sedentary work (Van Uffelen et al., 2010). ...
... Only a few studies have focused on commuting walking and highlighted that the built environment attributes may have distinctive associations with commuting walking compared to those of residential areas Carlson et al., 2018). Some utilitarian walking trips conducted around workplaces may also depend on different incentives from walking trips in residential neighborhoods (Marquet et al., 2020;Vale & Pereira, 2016). For instance, individuals living in suburban areas may not find it convenient to run errands and go shopping (Chaix et al., 2017), while pedestrian-friendly workplaces in city centers may satisfy their needs and encourage utilitarian walking. ...
Article
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Considering that most working adults spend nearly half their waking time at work, creating a supportive built environment around workplaces could be a feasible approach to maintain adequate levels of physical activity. However, the extent to which the built environment around workplaces influences walking behaviors in working adults remains unclear. Using survey data of 1009 full-time employees in Shanghai, China, this study assessed the nonlinear relationships between the built environment characteristics around workplaces and three domains of walking behaviors (commuting, utilitarian, and recreational walking). Using gradient boosting decision trees, our results showed that the built environment around workplaces is crucial for higher levels of walking behaviors, but built environment features tended to have distinctive associations with different domains of walking behaviors. Specifically, the number of physical activity facilities was positively associated with all three domains of walking behaviors, while a high floor area ratio was negatively associated with different domains of walking behaviors to some extent. Furthermore, several built environment characteristics, such as land use entropy, street view greenery, distance from home to the city center, and distance between the city center and workplaces had distinctive associations with different domains of walking behaviors. The findings of this study could provide nuanced guidance for creating pedestrian-friendly environments around workplaces to promote walking behaviors and overall physical activity levels in the working population.
... In addition to being aesthetically appealing, vegetation and trees reduce temperatures, spread shadows, and improve air quality. A pleasant experience is walking through a park during the commute to work, and increasing the greenness around the workplace increased the overall physical activities of adults (Marquet et al., 2020), and having a cleaner air which encourages walking (James et al., 2017). Most frameworks use greenness and parks in their assessments of walkability, as will be discussed in greater detail in Evaluation and Measurements of Walkability (Dills et al., 2012). ...
... While it is a valuable tool to quickly evaluate a walkability scene, Walk Score does not consider other critical factors in inspiring the decision to walk such as greenness (Marquet et al., 2020), air quality (Howell et al., 2019), pavement quality, or thermal comfort (Atef Elhamy Kamel, 2013). ...
Article
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Urban sprawl and increasing population density in urban centers create the challenge to finding ways of sustainable transportation solutions that preserve the convenience of residents while reducing emissions. Therefore, walkability is a core urban design element because of being advantageous onto three fronts: health, livability, and sustainability. Adopting walkability as urban solution relieves conceptual and practical tensions between the individualistic interests manifested in the desire to own and use private cars, and the need to reduce transportation-based consumption. This review advocates that long-term health benefits from walking and physical activity are the premier incentive to repurpose our cities to be more sustainable and more walking friendly, and spark behavioral change into reducing car dependency for all daily transportations. The review inspects physical elements of the built environment that make the walking trip feasible and desirable, such as connectivity, accessibility, and closeness of destination points, presence of greenness and parks, commercial retail, and proximity to transit hubs and stations. Hence, this review explores a few popular walkability evaluation indices and frameworks that employ subjective, objective, and/or distinctive methods within variant environmental, cultural, and national context. There is no unified universal standardized walkability theory despite the need for rigorous evaluation tools for policy makers and developers. Furthermore, there is a lack of emphasis on air quality and thermal stress while approaching walkability, despite being important elements in the walking experience. Research opportunities in the field of walkability can leverage location tracking from smart devices and identify the interaction patterns of pedestrians with other transportation modes, especially for those with fundamental movement challenges such as wheelchair users.
... Anecdotal common sense knowledge suggests that the most walkable neighborhoods are located in high-density built-up urban neighborhoods with low levels of greenness, and outlying low walkability suburban sprawl is associated with high levels of greenness/green space, hence the term "leafy green suburbia" [17]. Not surprisingly, a small, emerging body of evidence also has been pointing towards an overall negative relationship between greenness and walkability in some major metropolitan neighborhoods in the global north [18][19][20]. ...
... Previous studies from various jurisdictions have noted the negative relationship between greenness and walkability as part of other investigations. Thus, Marquet, Floyd, James, Glanz, Jennings, Jankowska, Kerr and Hipp [20], working on data from San Diego, USA, reported a correlation of around −0.2 to −0.4 between walkability and NDVI greenness. Another Canadian study from British Columbia (BC), investigating the effect of noise and pollution on diabetes, noted a negative correlation of −0.6 between walkability and NDVI [18]. ...
Article
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Background: The existing environment literature separately emphasizes the importance of neighborhood walkability and greenness in enhancing health and wellbeing. Thus, a desirable neighborhood should ideally be green and walkable at the same time. Yet, limited research exists on the prevalence of such "sweet spot" neighborhoods. We sought to investigate this question in the context of a large metropolitan city (i.e., Sydney) in Australia. Methods: Using suburb level normalized difference vegetative index (NDVI), percentage urban greenspace, Walk Score® (Walk Score, Seattle, WA, USA), and other data, we explored the global and local relationships of neighborhood-level greenness, urban green space (percent park area) with walkability applying both non-spatial and spatial modeling. Results: We found an overall negative relationship between walkability and greenness (measured as NDVI). Most neighborhoods (represented by suburbs) in Sydney are either walkable or green, but not both. Sweet spot neighborhoods that did exist were green but only somewhat walkable. In addition, many neighborhoods were both less green and somewhat walkable. Moreover, we observed a significant positive relationship between percentage park area and walkability. These results indicate walkability and greenness have inverse and, at best, mixed associations in the Sydney metropolitan area. Conclusions: Our analysis indicates an overall negative relationship between greenness and walkability, with significant local variability. With ongoing efforts towards greening Sydney and improving walkability, more neighborhoods may eventually be transformed into becoming greener and more walkable.
... For instance, in our study, the correlation between street-length density and NO 2 was 0.64, and the correlation with surrounding greenness was −0:70. Some researchers suggest that greener cities have higher rates of allcause mortality than less-green cities because the former tend to be more spread out, requiring greater car use and leading to unhealthy lifestyles (de Nazelle et al. 2011;Marquet et al. 2018). However, a large number of studies have shown the health benefits of exposure to green spaces through mechanisms beyond the promotion of physical activity (de Keijzer et al. 2016; WHO Regional Office for Europe 2016), which highlights the necessity to pursue strategies to integrate more vegetation in the urban environment without penalizing its walkability. ...
... Although results pointed toward the same direction, fewer work/study built environment indicators were associated with minutes of walking per week, as compared with the number of residential built environment indicators associated with the outcome variable of interest (i.e., minutes of walking per week for travel). However, in line with recent research (Marquet et al. 2018), when both the residential and the work/study built environments are considered, results of the present study suggest that a high-density residential area is essential to facilitate or promote walking for travel, whereas a high-density work/study area might help but is not as strongly associated. These results somehow make sense: Where people work or study can be an area where people go for only one single purpose (i.e., to work or to study) but not to do other activities that can significantly contribute to the total minutes of walking per week due to transport (e.g., getting groceries, going to organized activities, visiting friends, going to a restaurant, walking the dog). ...
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Background: Although walking for travel can help in reaching the daily recommended levels of physical activity, we know relatively little about the correlates of walking for travel in the European context. Objective: Within the framework of the European Physical Activity through Sustainable Transport Approaches (PASTA) project, we aimed to explore the correlates of walking for travel in European cities. Methods: The same protocol was applied in seven European cities. Using a web-based questionnaire, we collected information on total minutes of walking per week, individual characteristics, mobility behavior, and attitude ( N = 7,875 ). Characteristics of the built environment (the home and the work/study addresses) were determined with geographic information system (GIS)-based techniques. We conducted negative binomial regression analyses, including city as a random effect. Factor and principal component analyses were also conducted to define profiles of the different variables of interest. Results: Living in high-density residential areas with richness of facilities and density of public transport stations was associated with increased walking for travel, whereas the same characteristics at the work/study area were less strongly associated with the outcome when the residential and work/study environments were entered in the model jointly. A walk-friendly social environment was associated with walking for travel. All three factors describing different opinions about walking (ranging from good to bad) were associated with increased minutes of walking per week, although the importance given to certain criteria to choose a mode of transport provided different results according to the criteria. Discussion: The present study supports findings from previous research regarding the role of the built environment in the promotion of walking for travel and provides new findings to help in achieving sustainable, healthy, livable, and walkable cities. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP4603.
... For older adults with limited mobility, appreciating the natural landscape outside their windows can improve their mental state, even if they are often sedentary (Roe et al. 2017). However, for middle-aged people, the protective effect of green visibility is influenced more by the quality of the GS than its amount because lower levels of urbanisation may result in fewer man-made features that support PA or social interaction (Gascon et al. 2019;Marquet et al. 2020). Simply seeing more GS rather than being attracted to quality GS and thus socialising in it does not strengthen neighbourhood ties and interactions or enhance a sense of belonging and social well-being, which in turn reduces stress and improves mental states through social well-being (Thompson et al. 2016). ...
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Mental disorders affect many different groups around the world, and disadvantaged groups are often more severely affected. Neighbourhood green spaces (GS) can improve mental health, especially in disadvantaged groups. Many countries address social inequality and inequity through GS interventions. However, current evidence shows inconsistencies, which may result from the study site, research design, socio-demographically diverse samples, inclusivity considerations, and the different metrics used to quantify GS exposure and mental health benefits. Few conceptual models explain how neighbourhood greenery can act as a structural intervention. We used the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method and retrieved 5559 documents from eight databases to examine whether neighbourhood GS can modify mental health associations in disadvantaged groups. We found that neighbourhood GS had substantial protective effects on the mental health of disadvantaged groups. However, disadvantaged people are more influenced by GS quality than by other GS exposures, such as GS usage, distance, and accessibility. Improvements in subjective well-being were most pronounced in terms of mental health outcomes. Mechanistically, neighbourhood GS improves mental health mainly through increased social cohesion and, green visibility, and young people receive further benefits from physical activity (PA). These findings offer a comprehensive understanding of the associations and mechanisms between neighbourhood GS and the mental health of disadvantaged groups, addressing health equities that are induced by the unfair distribution of GS, and thus promoting health-oriented environmental planning and policies.
... Based on employment status, it was determined that the physical weakness and social worthlessness scores of retired/non-employed participants were higher than scores of those who worked in the public and private sectors. Although it varies according to the working environment and the characteristics of the job, working life can lead to an increase in individuals' level of physical activity (Marquet et al., 2020). Spending energy on going to and from the workplace and on the requirements of the job can contribute to the individual's feeling of vigor and adopting an active lifestyle for a healthy life. ...
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This study aimed to determine the levels of aging anxiety in middle-aged women who exercise and their beliefs about exercise. This is a descriptive cross-sectional study and 221 middle-aged women were contacted. For data collection, a “Personal Information Form”, the “Aging Anxiety Scale for Middle-Aged Women”, and the “Exercise Health Belief Model Scale” were used. It was found that aging anxiety varied according to age, education level, employment status, and the number of years of exercise. It was determined that as women’s general health scores increased, their physical weakness scores decreased. A positive correlation was found between beliefs about the vulnerability of not exercising and the aging anxiety score. The physical weakness score which is a subscale of aging anxiety had a significant effect on the score of beliefs about the vulnerability of not exercising and explained 13.7 % of the total variance. It has been determined that the mental health of middle-aged women is affected by the exercise they perform. It should be provided to make exercise a habit in the lives of middle-aged women and to improve their physical and mental health by organizing exercise programs.
... In addition, our study design did not consider relevant contextual variables as the quality of green and blue spaces, the frequency and duration of participants visits to those, if any, or the safety of these spaces. These are common deficits in environmental studies on greenness and health (Labib et al., 2020) that should be addressed by means of global positioning system and accelerometry devices (Marquet et al., 2020), park quality audits (Knobel et al., 2019) and specific questionnaires (McEachan et al., 2018). These limitations, which negatively affect to our capacity to characterize exposure to green and blue spaces, might be indeed responsible for the mixed and inconsistent pattern of results observed in the literature. ...
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Availability of green and blue spaces in the area of residence has been related to various health outcomes during childhood, including mental health. These environmental exposures are not evenly distributed among socioeconomic groups, which may increase social inequalities in mental health. The mechanisms through which natural environments may promote mental health are numerous and diverse. This study aimed to explore 1) the potential associations of socioeconomic variables (SES and maternal education attainment) with mental health scores and residential greenness, blueness and NO2 metrics, and, 2) the association between greenness and blueness metrics and mental health scores of children in the Spanish INfancia y Medio Ambiente (INMA) birth cohort at two different time points. The study samples were composed of 1738 six-to eight-year-olds (49% female) and 1449 ten-to twelve-year-olds (living in Asturias, Gipuzkoa, Sabadell and Valencia, Spain. Individual Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values in 100-, 300- and 500-m buffers and availability of green and blue spaces >5000 m2 in 300-m buffers were calculated using Geographic Information Systems software. Residential NO2 values were estimated using land use regression models. Internalizing, externalizing and total problems scores were obtained with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Linear and logistic mixed-effects models revealed unequal distribution of environmental exposures by SES and maternal education but did not show statistically significant associations between greenness and blueness metrics and mental health indicators. The protective effect of green and blue spaces on children's mental health could not be confirmed in this study and therefore further research is required.
... Thus, higher residential greenness alleviated the hazardous effect of ambient air pollutants on the cardiac system. Moreover, physical activities increased the opportunities of outdoor walking and active transportation in cardiac system (Marquet et al., 2020). Higher level of physical activities implied higher exposure to residential greenness, so the effect of greenness on cardiac health was strengthened. ...
Article
Background: Previous studies indicated the beneficial influence of residential greenness on cardiovascular disease (CVD), however, the association of residential greenness with cardiac conduction performance remains unclear. This study aims to examine the epidemiological associations between residential greenness and cardiac conduction abnormalities in rural residents, simultaneously exploring the role of residential greenness for cardiac health in an explainable machine learning modeling study. Methods: A total of 27,294 participants were derived from the Henan Rural Cohort. Two satellite-based indices, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and the enhanced vegetation index (EVI), were used to estimate residential greenness. Independent and combined associations of residential greenness indices and physical activities with electrocardiogram (ECG) parameter abnormalities were evaluated using the logistic regression model and generalized linear model. The Gradient Boosting Machine (GBM) and the SHapely Additive exPlanations (SHAP) were employed in the modeling study. Results: The odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for QRS interval, heart rate (HR), QTc interval, and PR interval abnormalities with per interquartile range in NDVI were 0.896 (0.873-0.920), 0.955 (0.926-0.986), 1.015 (0.984-1.047), and 0.986 (0.929-1.045), respectively. Furthermore, the participants with higher physical activities plus residential greenness (assessed by EVI) were related to a 1.049-fold (1.017-1.081) and 1.298-fold (1.245-1.354) decreased risk for abnormal QRS interval and HR. Similar results were also observed in the sensitivity analysis. The NDVI ranked fifth (SHAP mean value 0.116) in the analysis for QRS interval abnormality risk in the modeling study. Conclusion: A higher level of residential greenness was significantly associated with cardiac conduction abnormalities. This effect might be strengthened in residents with more physical activities. This study indicated the cruciality of environmental greenness to cardiac functions and also contributed to refining preventive medicine and greenness design strategies.
... These approaches could also be used to assess whether greenness is a marker of gentrification, and how changes in neighborhood composition over time impact health outcomes of residents [73]. Future research should also consider individuals' use of other, non-residential green spaces (e.g., at work or school) [74]. ...
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Residential greenness may support mental health among disaster-affected populations; however, changes in residential greenness may disrupt survivors’ sense of place. We obtained one pre- and three post-disaster psychological distress scores (Kessler [K]-6) from a cohort (n = 229) of low-income mothers who survived Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Greenness was assessed using average growing season Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) in the 300 m around participants’ homes at each time point. We used multivariable logistic regressions to evaluate two hypotheses: 1) that cross-sectional greenness (above vs. below median) was associated with reduced psychological distress (K6≥5); and 2) that changes in residential greenness were associated with adverse mental health. When using EVI, we found that a change in level of greenness (i.e., from high to low [high-low], or from low to high [low-high] greenness, comparing pre- and post-Katrina neighborhoods) was associated with increased odds of distress at the first post-storm survey, compared to moving between or staying within low greenness neighborhoods (low-high odds ratio [OR] = 3.48; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.40, 8.62 and high-low OR = 2.60; 95% CI: 1.05, 6.42). Results for NDVI were not statistically significant. More research is needed to characterize how residential greenness may impact the health of disaster survivors, and how these associations may change over time.
... Our study showed that the benefit of greenness on the 10year ASCVD risk was partly mediated by the higher level of PA and the lower BMI. The reason may be that greenness can provide an incentive to spend time outdoors, increase walking and active transportation opportunities, and constitute therapeutic stress-releasing environments for leisure activities (Marquet et al., 2020;Sarkar, 2017), which could increase PA and reduce BMI. Although PA and BMI had been examined as potential mediators in many studies, such mediating effects had also not been observed in some studies (Yang et al., 2020b;Yu et al., 2022) and some other studies had adjusted for them as potential confounders (Coleman et al., 2021;Yang et al., 2020a). ...
Article
Background Exposure to build environments, especially residential greenness, offers benefits to reduce the development of atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases (ASCVD). The 10-year ASCVD risk is a useful indicator for long-term ASCVD risk, but the evidence on the association and potential pathway of residential greenness in mitigating its development remains unclear. Objectives This study aimed to investigate the associations between residential greenness and the 10-year predicted ASCVD risks, and potentially mediation effect on this association by air pollution, body mass index (BMI) and physical activity (PA). Methods The baseline of the China Multi-Ethnic Cohort (CMEC) study, enrolling 99,556 adults during 2018–2019, was used in this cross-sectional study. The participants' 10-year ASCVD risks were predicted as low-, moderate-, and high-risk groups, based on the six risk factors: age, smoking, hypertension, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and high total cholesterol (TC). The 3-year mean value within the circular buffer of 500 m and 1000 m of Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI500m and EVI1000m) were used to assess greenness exposure. Multiple logistic regression was used to evaluate the association between residential greenness and the 10-year ASCVD risks. Stratified analyses by sex, age and smoking status were performed to identify susceptible populations. Causal mediation analysis was used to explore the mediation effects of air pollution, BMI and PA. Results A total of 75,975 participants were included, of which 17.9 % (n = 13,614) and 5.6 % (n = 4253) had the moderate and high 10-year ASCVD risks, respectively. Compared to the low-risk group, each interquartile increase in EVI500m and EVI1000m reduced the ASCVD risk of the moderate-risk group by 4 % (OR = 0.96 [0.94, 0.98]) and 4 % (OR = 0.96 [0.94, 0.98]), respectively; and reduced the risk of the high-risk group by 8 % (OR = 0.92 [0.90, 0.96]) and 7 % (OR = 0.93 [0.90, 0.97]), respectively. However, the increased greenness did not affect the ASCVD risk of the high-risk group when compared to the moderate-risk group. Effects of residential greenness on the ASCVD risk were stronger in women than in men (p < 0.05), and were not observed in those aged ≥55. PA and BMI partially mediated the association between greenness and the 10-year ASCVD risk. Conclusions ASCVD prevention strategies should be tailored to maximize the effectiveness within the groups with different ASCVD risks, better at early stages when the ASCVD risk is low.
... Studies on how environmental factors influence health relevant behavior should function as a basis for modeling these relations. [87][88][89][90] The second group of models are the exposure and exposureresponse functions. To estimate the dose of a passive exposure, a simple spatial join of the agent's location or route at the timestep of the environmental stressor map is sufficient. ...
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With ever more people living in cities worldwide, it becomes increasingly important to understand and improve the impact of the urban habitat on livability, health behaviors and health outcomes. However, implementing interventions that tackle the exposome in complex urban systems can be costly and have long-term, sometimes unforeseen, impacts. Hence, it is crucial to assess the health impact, cost-effectiveness, and social distributional impacts of possible urban exposome interventions before implementing them. Spatial agent-based modeling can capture complex behavior-environment interactions, exposure dynamics, and social outcomes in a spatial context. This paper discusses model architectures and methodological challenges for successfully modeling urban exposome interventions using spatial agent-based modeling. We review the potential and limitations of the method; model components required to capture active and passive exposure and intervention effects; human-environment interactions and their integration into the macro-level health impact assessment and social costs benefit analysis; strategies for model calibration. Major challenges for a successful application of agent-based modeling to urban exposome intervention assessment are (1) the design of realistic behavioral models that can capture different types of exposure and that respond to urban interventions, (2) the mismatch between the possible granularity of exposure estimates and the evidence for corresponding exposure-response functions, (3) the scalability issues that emerge when aiming to estimate long-term effects such as health and social impacts based on high-resolution models of human-environment interactions, (4) as well as the data- and computational complexity of calibrating the resulting agent-based model. Although challenges exist, strategies are proposed to improve the implementation of ABM in exposome research.
... Links between greenness and health elaborating the potential pathways was noted which included harm reduction and restoring and building capacities (Markevych et al., 2017). The mediating factors of this association were also reported to include reduced stress (McCormick, 2017), increased physical activity (Marquet et al., 2020), filtered out air pollution (Nowak et al., 2006), decreased traffic-related noise (Dzhambov et al., 2019), and enhanced social interaction (Liu et al., 2019). Several studies have provided the importance of public green spaces because exposure to more green during COVID-19 seemed to reduce air pollutants and increased time in nature has been linked to positive behavioral changes (Diener and Mudu, 2021;Labib et al., 2021). ...
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Background The rapid spread of COVID-19 has caused an emergency situation worldwide. Investigating the association between environmental characteristics and COVID-19 incidence can be of the occurrence and transmission. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between greenness exposure and COVID-19 cases at the district levels in South Korea. We also explored this association by considering several environmental indicators. Methods District-level data from across South Korea were used to model the cumulative count of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 persons between January 20, 2020, and February 25, 2021. Greenness exposure data were derived from the Environmental Geographic Information Service of the Korean Ministry of Environment. A negative binomial mixed model evaluated the association between greenness exposure and COVID-19 incidence rate at the district level. Furthermore, we assessed this association between demographic, socioeconomic, environmental statuses, and COVID-19 incidence. Results Data from 239 of 250 districts (95.6%) were included in the analyses, resulting in 127.89 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 persons between January 20, 2020 and February 25, 2021. Several demographic and socioeconomic variables, districts with a higher rate of natural greenness exposure, were significantly associated with lower COVID-19 incidence rates (incidence rate ratio (IRR), 0.70; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.54–0.90; P-value = 0.008) after adjusting covariates, but no evidence for the association between built greenness and COVID-19 incidence rates was found. Conclusion In this ecological study of South Korea, we found that higher rates of exposure to natural greenness were associated with lower rates of COVID-19 cases.
... The external neighbourhood environment of a workplace and how one travels to work all potentially influence physical activity behaviours in and around the workplace [27]. For example, nearby pleasant walkable environments may reduce physical movement inside the workplace as workers choose to walk during their breaks or hold walking meetings and then sit and work in the remaining time. ...
Article
Background: There is increasing focus on designing workspaces that promote less sitting, more movement and interaction to improve physical and mental health. Objective: This study evaluates a natural intervention of a new workplace with active design features and its relocation to a greener and open space. Methods: An ecological model was used to understand how organisations implement change. Pre and post survey data from 221 matched cases of workers and accelerometery data (n = 50) were analysed. Results: Results show a decrease in occupational sitting (-20.65 mins/workday, p = 0.001) and an increase in workplace walking (+5.61 mins/workday, p = 0.001) using survey data, and accelerometery data (occupational sitting time: -31.0 mins/workday, p = 0.035, standing time: +22.0 mins/workday, p = 0.022, stepping time: +11.0 mins/workday, p = 0.001). Improvements in interaction, musculoskeletal pain and mental health were reported. Conclusions: Application of the ecological model shows that the organisation understands how to target the built environment and social/cultural environment but not how to target behaviour change at the individual level.
... The promotion of walking for transport is an important objective for both urban and transport planning and public health, since walking is environmentally-friendly, low cost and provides considerable health and well-being benefits (Marquet et al., 2018;Mueller et al., 2015;Sallis et al., 2015). In addition to adequate pedestrian infrastructure, the walkability of neighborhoods is commonly determined by the three urban planning components of: land use mix, (population or residential) density and street connectivity (Frank et al., 2009;Gascon et al., 2019;Hajna et al., 2015;Sallis et al., 2011;Van Holle et al., 2012): The better the performance of these three indicators, the better the walkability of the neighborhood. ...
Article
Today, urban and transport planners face considerable challenges in designing and retrofitting cities that are prepared for increasing urban populations, and their service and mobility needs. When it comes to health-promoting urban and transport developments, there is also a lack of standardized, quantitative indicators to guide the integration of health components right from the outset, i.e. in the formal planning or zoning phase. We narratively reviewed the literature and organized stakeholder workshops to identify and tailor planning principles and indicators that can be linked to health outcomes. We defined four core planning objectives that previous authoritative studies have suggested to result in positive health outcomes among city dwellers, which are: I) development of compact cities, II) reduction of private motorized transport, III) promotion of active (i.e. walking and cycling) and public transport, IV) development of green and public open space. Built on the review and stakeholder consensus, we identified 10 urban and transport planning principles that work towards achieving the four core objectives thought to provide health benefits for European city dwellers. These 10 planning principles are: 1) land use mix, 2) street connectivity, 3) density, 4) motorized transport reductions, 5) walking, 6) cycling, 7) public transport, 8) multi-modality, 9) green and public open space, and 10) integration of all planning principles. A set of indicators was developed and tailored for each planning principle. The final output of this work is a checklist ready to be applied by urban and transport professionals to integrate health into urban and transport developments in urban environments right from the outset.
... In this direction, numerous projects and initiatives have been fostering by non-governmental organizations (Zhu et al. 2020) and also the scientific literature is as consolidated as these initiatives in order to identify the main urban characteristics increasing walkability. Physical and functional features of the settlement structure influence the propensity for pedestrian mobility, especially for the weaker segments of population such as children and elderly (Marquet et al. 2020). Street connectivity, functional mix, presence of urban activities and spaces designed for recreational activities, as well as urban furniture and the usability (e.g. ...
Chapter
Cork oak forests in Sardinia cover about 139,500 ha of land both as pure stands or wooded pastures. Starting from a research activity carried on the territories of Goceano, focused on the application of a methodology on the evaluation of Ecosystem Services (ESs) provided by cork oak forests, this study presents a methodology for designing and implement local ecological networks able to maximize the value of ESs (in particular, provisioning, regulation and cultural) through a GIS-based cost distance analysis (least cost path method). The least cost path method supports the best corridors for connecting landscape patches to be adopted in ecological infrastructure planning for Goceano. Two GIS layers (the source layer and the impedance layer) are used as inputs: the source layer represents the landscape patches from which connectivity is calculated according to the cost of ecosystem services related to local ecological network. The impedance layer represents resistance values assigned by summarizing the weight values of the relative costs of traveling through each land use type and geographical position. The framework of values provided and the local ecological network automatically calculated can be useful bases to better define multi-functional management systems and development strategies aimed to assist the evolution of these rural landscapes in response to climate and societal changes.
... In this direction, numerous projects and initiatives have been fostering by non-governmental organizations (Zhu et al. 2020) and also the scientific literature is as consolidated as these initiatives in order to identify the main urban characteristics increasing walkability. Physical and functional features of the settlement structure influence the propensity for pedestrian mobility, especially for the weaker segments of population such as children and elderly (Marquet et al. 2020). Street connectivity, functional mix, presence of urban activities and spaces designed for recreational activities, as well as urban furniture and the usability (e.g. ...
Chapter
The study of pedestrian accessibility aimed at improving the physical and functional organization of the urban system is of significant interest in the international scientific community, as the opportunities for pedestrian movement within the urban system affect the behavior and lifestyles of pedestrians in their everyday life. In particular, many scholars propose research aimed at improving the pedestrian network at the urban and neighborhood scale. Moreover, efforts to improve walkability should be people-oriented. In particular, the urban population is diverse and people’s physical abilities tend to decline with old age. Hence, this work focuses on increasing accessibility to urban services for people over 65 by improving walkability. To this end, the characteristics that make pedestrian paths suitable for this weak user group are identified. The pedestrian routes are analyzed based on the geometry and quality of the routes (physical characteristics), the perceived protection in following them (characteristics related to the sense of safety and protection) and the urban context. The weight of these characteristics was quantified through a multi-criteria analysis using the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process technique. The technique, combined with GIS spatial capabilities allowed us to classify the pedestrian network according to its “friendliness” to the elderly. The proposed methodology was tested in two districts of the city of Naples to illustrate the relevance of local contexts, including demographic, morphological and settlement characteristics.
... This represents a further potential insight on the established essential role of smart working in workers' health and quality of life during the COVID-19 containment period (Zhang et al., 2020). Besides the aforementioned importance of being surrounded by nature-based elements and having access to greenness near the workplace (Marquet et al., 2020), it is worth promoting the use of nature-based elements also inside the home environment to promote the well-being of all users. Our results show that the associations between green view and the above-mentioned psychological health outcomes are stronger in non-smart workers than in smart workers demonstrating that exposure to green features at home can play a key role in perceived health and well-being, regardless of the presence of green features in the workplace. ...
Article
Exposure to public green spaces was shown to be associated with psychological health. Nonetheless, evidence is lacking on the role of different green features within and/or surrounding the home environment when public green spaces are inaccessible or not usable. The overarching goal of this study is to shed light on the associations between the presence of greenness within the home and in the surrounding environment and the detrimental effects of quarantine on psychological health during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in Italy. A cross-sectional nationwide study involving an online survey was conducted of an Italian population-based sample of 3886 respondents on the association of indoor and outdoor green features (i.e., presence of plant pots, sunlight, green view and accessibility of private green space and natural outdoor environment) with self-reported increases in anxiety, anger, fear, confusion, moodiness, boredom, irritability, recurrent thoughts and/or dreams, poor concentration and sleep disturbance during the COVID-19 lockdown. Single-exposure regression models were performed to estimate associations between single green features and each psychological health outcome adjusted for relevant covariates. In the adjusted models, the presence of plant pots at home was associated with a lower self-reported increase in anxiety, anger, fear, irritability, and sleep disturbance. A greater amount of sunlight in the home was associated with a lower increase in anger, fear, confusion, moodiness, boredom, irritability, poor concentration, and sleep disturbance. A greater amount of green view and access to private green spaces were both associated with a lower increase in each of the psychological health outcomes except for green view and recurrent thought and/or dreams. Natural outdoor environment was associated with anxiety, fear, boredom, irritability, and sleep disturbance. Significant associations remained robust when adjusted for number of confirmed COVID-19 cases. Insights on future investigations are provided.
... Here, we also saw that perceived greenness was negatively associated to MVPA in Barcelona. Other authors have explained this counterintuitive result arguing that greener environments might show lower levels of urbanization and therefore less human-made features supporting walking or exercising (e. g. walkability; see Gascon et al., 2019;Marquet et al., 2020a). This does not directly mean that urban greenness is a negative factor given that it improves human health through various pathways besides the promotion of physical activity (Dzhambov et al., 2020;Markevych et al., 2017). ...
Article
Physical neighborhood attributes such as greenness, walkability and environmental pollution may have an influence on people’s behavior and health. It has been claimed that part of such effects may come from the promotion of physical activity and the strengthening of social cohesion. In this study, we recruited samples of pregnant women in two Spanish cities (Donostia-San Sebastián, 440 participants and Barcelona, 360 participants) who filled in a questionnaire and wore an accelerometer for 1 week during the first trimester of pregnancy. The influence of perceived residential greenness, walkability and environmental pollution on mental health (GHQ-12) was tested in two structural equation models that included light physical activity, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and social cohesion as mediators. Two solutions showing excellent and good fits (Donostia-San Sebastián: X²(3) = 2.56, p = 0.465, CFI = 1, RMSEA < .001; Barcelona: X²(6) =4.86, p = 0.566, CFI = 1, RMSEA = .048) consistently showed that neighborhood attributes promote mental health through social cohesion in the two cities. Stratified analyses revealed that the social cohesion-mental health effect was only statistically significant for low and medium socioeconomic status groups in the Donostia-San Sebastián sample. Pathways through physical activity were not confirmed.
... 191 Christiansen et al., 2016. 192 Howell et al., 2017Marquet et al., 2020; Marquet y Hipp, 2019. 193 Dadvand et al., 2016. ...
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It is clear that our health is also determined by our environment. This book discloses current knowledge (2020) of the main benefits of green spaces on human health. It also includes some unique initiatives that explore the binomial green and health. Finally, proposes strategies and tools to increase the "dose of nature" in health systems. A publication of DKV Seguros (Spanish health insurer) with the ISGlobal scientific review.
... Changes to the social and physical environment have been promoted as a way to encourage physical activity; these include changes to the workplace environment, which can influence behaviour such as commuting (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 2018Excellence, , 2008. Working in an environment favourable for walking has been associated with greater physical activity (Marquet et al., 2020). Systematic reviews of workplace interventions to increase active commuting have predominantly found these to be effective, but were limited by the quality of available evidence (Hosking et al., 2010;Petrunoff et al., 2016a;Scheepers et al., 2014). ...
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Despite strong evidence for health benefits from active travel, levels remain low in many countries. Changes to the physical and social workplace environment might encourage active travel but evaluation has been limited. We explored associations between changes in the physical and social workplace environment and changes in commute mode over one year among 419 participants in the Commuting and Health in Cambridge study. In adjusted analyses, an increase in the presence of one physical characteristic (e.g. bicycle parking or shower facilities) was associated with a 3.3% (95% confidence interval 1.0–5.6) reduction in the proportion of commutes by private motor vehicle and a 4.4% (95% CI 1.2–7.7) increase in the proportion of trips including active modes among men. These associations were not seen in women. A change to a more favourable social environment for walking or cycling among workplace management was associated with an increased proportion of commutes including active modes in women (4.5%, 95% CI 1.4–7.5) but not men. However, in both genders a change to more a favourable social environment for cycling among colleagues was associated with a reduced proportion of commutes by exclusively active modes (−2.8%, 95% CI −5.0 to −0.6). This study provides longitudinal evidence for gender differences in the associations between workplace environment and commute mode. A more supportive physical environment was associated with more active commuting in men, while the social environment appeared to have more complex associations that were stronger among women.
... On one hand, walkable areas tend to be the more attractive areas of a city (Marquet & Miralles-Guasch, 2015), and thus it is to be expected that they also concentrate a larger amount of travel. On the other hand, these areas are usually the more accessible areas of the city, enabling walking, cycling and public transport access (Bödeker et al., 2018;Frank et al., 2006;Marquet et al., 2019). Ridehailing is associated with the most accessible areas of the city, which indicates that ridehailing is not always used as an alternative for trips that are not covered by public transportation or between areas with low accessibility, but rather is being used even though other cleaner and healthier options are available. ...
Article
Despite the recent growth and popularity of ride-hailing services throughout the world, there's still a lack of research on its determinants. This paper aims to examine the associations between ride-hailing and their spatial distribution in relation to key socioeconomic and built environment characteristics both at the trip origin and destination. To do so the study uses official data provided by Transportation Network Companies operating in the city of Chicago, with 32 million trips logged between November 1st, 2018 to June 28th, 2019. Among the built environment attributes we focus on the relationship between walkability levels and demand for ride-hailing. Study findings indicate an association between ride-hailing and income levels, car-availability and race-ethnicity. Results also suggest a positive association between walkability at either trip origin or trip destination and ride-hailing demand, together with a negative one between access to transit and ride-hail use. Findings suggest some worrisome conclusions, with ride-hailing being seldom used among the more deprived areas. Ride-hailing is predominantly being used to travel between highly accessible areas which should be accessed using more sustainable transport modes. Positive takeaways are the lack of race disparities in ride-hailing demand and the capacity of ride-hailing to interact and complement public transit provision.
... However, scant attention has been paid to the influence of PA facilities within workplace neighborhoods, where Chinese people at work spend much of their workday. Although a few researchers have investigated the effect of sport facilities in proximity to the workplace on PA behaviors in developed countries, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan [10,33,39], they are based on the assumption that people have the chance to use PA facilities within their neighborhoods all day long. In fact, individuals' willingness and opportunities to use nearby facilities depend on the amount of discretionary time they have. ...
Article
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Background: Urban residents from the developing world have increasingly adopted a sedentary lifestyle and spend less time on physical activities (PA). Previous studies on the association between PA facilities and individuals' PA levels are based on the assumption that individuals have opportunities to use PA facilities within neighborhoods all day long, ignoring the fact that their willingness and opportunities to use nearby facilities depend on how much discretionary time (any time when people have a choice what to do) they have. Further, scant attention has been paid to the influence of PA facilities within both residential and workplace neighborhoods in the dense urban context. To address the above research gaps, this study investigated the links between the spatial access to PA facilities within home/workplace neighborhoods and time spent on PA among working adults, focusing on whether results were different when different measures of accessibility were used and whether participants' discretionary time over a week affected their time spent on PA. Method: This study used data from a questionnaire survey (n = 1002) in Guangzhou between June and July 2017 and point of interest (POI) data from online mapping resources. Outcome variables included the amount of time spent on physical activity/moderate and vigorous intensity physical activity (PA/MVPA) over the past week. Home/workplace neighborhoods were measured as different distance buffers (500 m circular buffers, 1000 m circular buffers, and 1080 m network buffers) around each respondent's home/workplace. Spatial access to PA facilities was measured using two indicators: the counts of PA facilities and proximity to PA facilities within home/workplace neighborhoods. The amount of discretionary time was calculated based on activity log data of working day/weekend day from the Guangzhou questionnaire survey, and regression models were used to examine relationships between the spatial access of PA facilities, the time spent on PA/MVPA, and the amount of discretionary time, adjusted for covariates. Associations were stratified by gender, age, education, and income. Results: Using different measures of accessibility (the counts of and proximity to PA facilities) generated different results. Specifically, participants spent more time on PA/MVPA when they lived in neighborhoods with more PA facilities and spent more time on MVPA when worked in closer proximity to PA facilities. A larger amount of discretionary time was associated with more time spent on PA/MVPA, but it did not strengthen the relationship between access to PA facilities and PA/MVPA time. In addition, relationships between access to PA facilities and PA levels varied by gender, age, education, and income. Conclusion: This study contributes to the knowledge of PA-promoting environments by considering both the home and workplace contexts and by taking into account the temporal attributes of contextual influences. Policymakers and urban planners are advised to take into account the workplace context and the temporal variability of neighborhood influences when allocating public PA facilities and public spaces.
... Many adults spend several hours of their average day at work, and many students attend university or spend time at other educational facilities during the day. Less research has focused on the effects of the environment depending on locations such as the workplace, university campuses, schools, hospitals or retirement homes [23][24][25][26][27]. However, connections between the perceived greenness levels of a university campus and the self-reported quality of life of college students have been found [24]. ...
Article
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Research has reported the associations between objective or subjective neighborhood greenness and health, with low agreement between the greenness scores. College students are prone to poor health, and data are lacking on home and university environments. We studied the agreement between greenness parameters and the associations of objective greenness with health in different locations. Three hundred and seventy-seven college students were recruited, with a mean age of 24 years, in the city of Graz, Austria. Objective and perceived greenness was assessed at home and at university. Health measures included the WHO-5 questionnaire for mental health, the IPAQ questionnaire (short) for physical activity and sedentariness, and body mass index. Per location, quintile pairs of objective and perceived greenness were classified into underestimates, correct estimates or overestimates. Interrater reliability and correlation analyses revealed agreement between greenness scores at home but not at university. ANOVA models only showed poorer mental health for students underestimating greenness at university (M = 51.38, SD = 2.84) compared to those with correct estimates (M = 61.03, SD = 1.85). Agreement between greenness scores at home but not at university was obtained, and mental health was related to the perception of greenness at university. We conclude that reliable and corresponding methods for greenness scores need to be developed.
... However, people do not only spend time at home during the day. Many adults spend much of their time at work, and the environmental properties of the workspace, i.e., greenness and walkability, can also positively influence physical activity levels [33]. Similarly, college students spend much of their time at university or educational facilities. ...
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Previous studies reported contradictory evidence for associations between perceived greenness and obesity mediated by physical activity, focusing on people’s homes or general greenness. Data are lacking in other environments. We studied the association of perceived greenness at home and at university with BMI and physical activity. An online survey collected data from 601 participants, living and studying in and around the city of Graz, Austria; mean age of 24 years. Greenness was assessed using questions on quality of and access to green space; Body mass index (BMI) was derived from self-reported measures; physical activity and sedentariness were measured using the IPAQ questionnaire (short version). On average, BMI was 22.6 (SD = 3.7), physical activity was 63.3 (SD = 51.7) METh/week, and participants spent 5.8 (SD = 4.0) h/day sitting. Regression analyses revealed no associations between perceived greenness and BMI and physical activity for all environments, but a negative association for sedentariness and perceived greenness at home, but not at university. The results indicate a relation between perceived greenness and sedentariness, which differs for the home-and study environment.
... The neighbourhood environment around a worksite may be particularly important for understanding adults' PA outcomes as they spend most days in a typical week at work and thus commuting to and from work. Findings have shown that adults working in more walkable environments engaged in higher levels of moderate-to-vigorous PA and active transportation (Marquet et al., 2018). Yet, these studies did not integrate the worksite built environment with the social cognitive constructs in order to provide a more comprehensive social ecological understanding (Sallis et al., 2006). ...
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Background As an accessible and inexpensive activity in daily life for employees, transport‐related walking is a promising focus of physical activity initiatives. The purpose of this study was to integrate worksite neighbourhood walkability with the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to predict transport‐related walking in Chinese employees using a longitudinal design. Methods A sample of 157 employees (Mage = 33.26 years; SD = 7.18) reported their social cognition and worksite neighbourhood environment perceptions at the baseline. Self‐reported transport‐related walking was measured at two time points, 1 month apart. Results Path analyses revealed that intention had a direct effect on walking, while attitudes, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control had indirect effects on walking via intention. Past behaviour had a significant effect on walking, attenuating the intention–behaviour effect substantially. However, there was no indirect effect from perceived worksite neighbourhood walkability on walking through the TPB constructs. Furthermore, perceived neighbourhood walkability did not moderate the intention–walking relationship. Conclusions Perceived worksite neighbourhood walkability had limited effects on transport‐related walking, which seems to be a motivated and habitual behaviour. Habit‐based interventions may be a priority over social cognitive and environmental change interventions, and future experimental studies are needed.
... While the workplace generally is recognized as a physical activity-and health promotion-venue (Quintiliani, Sattelmair, & Sorensen, 2007), most research has focused on wellness and health promotion programs inside the workplace (Baicker, Cutler, & Song, 2010;Goetzel & Ozminkowski, 2008;Hipp et al., 2017;Mujtaba & Cavico, 2013). Less attention has been paid to the role of the worksite built environment at naturally promoting PA by facilitating and encouraging errands, walking, and leisure exercise (Gehrke & Welch, 2017, Marquet et al., 2018. ...
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The role of worksite environments in promoting physical activity (PA) remains largely unexplored. With workers in the U.S. spending half of their waking day in their work environment, the workplace could be an important venue for the promotion of health and PA. We examined associations between PA gained while at work and the built environment around the workplace. We measured PA using accelerometer devices in a sample of 119 participants of the Supports at Home and Work for Maintaining Energy Balance study, with a wear time of 1 week. Measures of built environment included perceived walkability, two different measures of objective walkability, and greenness. Working in an environment perceived as walkable was associated with more minutes of PA while at work in all models. When measured objectively, walkability was found significant in the adjusted models controlling for both home walkability and amount of PA gained in nonwork related activities. Greenness of the work environment was found nonsignificant. Findings suggest investing in walkable environments around the workplace or having worksites located in walkable areas can contribute to increased minutes of PA for employed people in the U.S. © 2019, National Environmental Health Association. All rights reserved.
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Background Green space has been linked with cardiovascular (CV) health. Nature access and quality may have significant impact on CV risk factors and health. Objectives The authors aimed to investigate the relationship between NatureScore, a composite score for natural environment exposure and quality of green spaces, with CV risk factors and atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases (ASCVD). Methods A cross-sectional study including one million adult patients from the Houston Methodist Learning Health System Outpatient Registry (2016-2022). NatureScore is a composite measure of natural environment exposure and quality (0-100) calculated for each patient based on residential address. NatureScores was divided into 4 categories: nature deficient/light (0-39), nature adequate (40-59), nature rich (60-79), and nature utopia (80-100). CV risk factors included hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and obesity. Results Among 1.07 million included patients (mean age 52 years, female 59%, Hispanic 16%, Non-Hispanic Black 14%), median NatureScore was 69.4. After adjusting for neighborhood walkability, patients living in highest NatureScore neighborhoods had lower prevalence of CV risk factors (OR: 0.91, 95% CI: 0.90-0.93) and ASCVD (OR: 0.96, 95% CI: 0.93-0.98) than those in lowest NatureScore neighborhoods. A significant interaction existed between NatureScore and Walkability (P < 0.001), where those in high NatureScore (≥60) high walkability (≥40) areas had lower prevalence of CV risk factors (OR: 0.93, 95% CI: 0.90-0.97, P < 0.001) and were more likely to have optimal CV risk profile (relative risk ratio: 1.09, 95% CI: 1.04-1.14, P = 0.001). Conclusions These findings suggest that while green spaces benefit health, their accessibility through walkable environments is crucial for cardiovascular disease protection.
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Background Recent research suggests a need for worksite programs that promote structured physical activity (PA) among hospital staff. The objectives of this study were to assess the hospital employees’ acceptance of PA opportunities that could be implemented at the worksite, and the association between worksite PA and commuting and other sociocognitive factors. Method Acceptance of seven PA opportunities from the WHO guidelines was correlated with commuting and socio-cognitive factors through an online survey conducted among the workforce of the University Hospital of Angers, France ( N = 6874) between April 25 and May 22, 2022. Results Only three PA opportunities in the seven proposed reached high approval rates among at least 50% of the 1,427 participants, namely, provide cycle facilities onsite, create a fitness room onsite, and establish partnerships with private associations or sports clubs, albeit rates decreased significantly with commuting distance for the first and the last proposals. The number of approved PA opportunities was positively related to the perceived negative influence of commuting on well-being and self-rated concerns with current PA level. It was negatively related to older age, long commuting, and flexible rest days. Conclusion Based on these results, we recommend raising PA awareness and self-efficacy before implementing an easily accessible fitness center for employees. Providing cycle facilities and a more walkable environment in the hospital setting while encouraging active traveling between home and work for short commuters could additionally increase the level of physical activity on an equitable and sustainable basis.
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Importance Emerging studies have suggested that environmental factors are associated with fracture. However, little is known about the association of neighborhood walkability and residential greenness with fracture. Objective To investigate the association of long-term exposure to walkability and greenness with incident fracture and explore the potential interaction effect. Design, Setting, and Participants This cohort study recruited participants aged 40 years or older in Ningbo, China from June 2015 to January 2018. Participants were observed for outcomes through February 2023, with data analysis conducted in March 2023. Exposures Neighborhood walkability was measured by a modified walkability calculation method according to a walk score tool. Residential greenness was assessed by satellite-derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) within a 1000-m buffer. Main Outcomes and Measures Incident fracture was ascertained according to International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision codes via the Yinzhou Health Information System. Cox proportional hazards models were fit, with age as time scale to estimate the associations of walkability and greenness with fracture. Potential effect modification was explored by covariates, as well as the interactive effect of walkability and greenness. Results A total of 23 940 participants were included in this study with 13 735 being female (57.4%). The mean (SD) age at baseline was 63.4 (9.4) years. During a follow-up period of 134 638 person-years, 3322 incident fractures were documented. In the full adjusted model, every IQR increment in neighborhood walkability and residential greenness was associated with a hazard ratio (HR) of 0.88 (95% CI, 0.83-0.92) and 0.84 (95% CI, 0.80-0.89), respectively, for fracture. Furthermore, the association of greenness and fracture was greater with an increase in walkability. The HR (Q4 vs Q1) for greenness was 0.62 (95% CI, 0.46-0.82) in neighborhoods with the highest quartile of walkability. Conclusions and Relevance This population cohort study suggested that long-term exposure to neighborhood walkability and residential greenness were both associated with lower risk of incident fracture. The benefits of greenness increased in more walkable areas.
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Background: Inconsistent results have been found in the literature on associations of greenness, or vegetation quantity, and physical activity. However, few studies have assessed associations between mobility-based greenness and physical activity from mobile health data from smartphone and wearable devices with fine spatial and temporal resolution. Methods: We assessed mobility-based greenness exposure and wearable accelerometer data from participants in the US-based prospective Nurses' Health Study 3 cohort Mobile Health (mHealth) Substudy (2018-2020). We recruited 500 female participants with instructions to wear devices over four 7-day sampling periods equally spaced throughout the year. After restriction criteria there were 337 participants (mean age 36 years) with n = 639,364 unique observations. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data were derived from 30 m x 30 m Landsat-8 imagery and spatially joined to GPS points recorded every 10 min. Fitbit proprietary algorithms provided physical activity summarized as mean number of steps per minute, which we averaged during the 10-min period following a GPS-based greenness exposure assessment. We utilized Generalized Additive Mixed Models to examine associations (every 10 min) between greenness and physical activity adjusting for neighborhood and individual socioeconomic status, Census region, season, neighborhood walkability, daily mean temperature and precipitation. We assessed effect modification through stratification and interaction models and conducted sensitivity analyses. Results: Mean 10-min step count averaged 7.0 steps (SD 14.9) and greenness (NDVI) averaged 0.3 (SD 0.2). Contrary to our hypotheses, higher greenness exposure was associated non-linearly with lower mean steps per minute after adjusting for confounders. We observed statistically significant effect modification by Census region and season. Discussion: We utilized objective physical activity data at fine temporal and spatial scales to present novel estimates of the association between mobility-based greenness and step count. We found higher levels of greenness were inversely associated with steps per minute.
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Background: In recent years there has been an increase in the use of micromobility devices in cities worldwide. Due to their novelty, their effects on population health are still unknown. In this study, we aim to explore the association between conventional and electric micromobility modes and daily physical activity levels in an adult population in the city of Barcelona. Methods: Tracking data for 129 adults were collected in 2020 and 2021 as part of the NEWMOB project. Participants each wore an accelerometer and answered daily travel diaries for a week. Participants reported their daily use of micromobility devices through the travel log. Objective daily reports of physical activity levels were obtained from the accelerometer data. Statistical analysis explored the association between self-reported use of micromobility modes-shared bike, shared e-bike, e-scooter-and objective levels of physical activity. Results: On average, bike users, and users that combined different micromobility modes reported higher daily time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) than other users. The lowest mean daily levels of MVPA were found among electric scooter users and non-micromobility users. In terms of light activity levels, the highest mean daily levels correspond to users of mixed modes and electric scooters. Analysing health guidelines compliance, bike users and mix modes users were the groups that more often met physical activity guidelines. Conclusions: Micromobility modes such as conventional and electric bikes can help to maintain high levels of MVPA, while meeting health guidelines, in contrast to e-scooters.
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Work precincts are recognized for their significant role as generators of employment and associated commerce within urban areas. This study describes a method for analyzing the physical characteristics of urban work precincts in promoting the health and wellbeing of their occupants. The following physical parameters are analyzed: public transport accessibility, green and blue spaces, food environments, fitness facilities, supermarkets, and grocery stores. The parameters are assessed using quantitative spatial analysis based on street network data, as well as point of interest data acquired from OpenStreetMap (OSM). The streets and their intersections are stored in the OSM database as links and nodes, respectively. The evaluation of the performance metrics involves measuring the street network distance from each node to the closest node of interest for each parameter. The metrics are then combined, forming an urban health and wellbeing index (UHWI), which can be used to compare the performance of different precincts. The method was tested by investigating four work precincts in Sydney, Australia, all hosting a large office building belonging to the same business institution. Our results identified two of the four precincts with a high UHWI and resulted in the identification of one underperforming precinct.
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Purpose Striking disparities persist in cardiovascular disease risk factors among minority youth. We examined the association between multiple indicators of neighborhood quality and minority youth fitness. Methods The primary exposure was the Child Opportunity Index (COI), a measure comprised of indicators that facilitate healthy child development. Outcome data were drawn from the 2018-2019 Fit2Play Study (Miami-Dade County, FL). Hotspot analysis evaluated COI spatial clustering. Generalized linear mixed models examined cross-sectional COI-fitness associations. Results The sample included 725 youth (53% Black, 43% Hispanic; 5-17 years). Significant neighborhood quality spatial clusters were identified (Gi*z-score=-4.85-5.36). Adjusting for sociodemographics, walkability was associated with lower percentiles in body mass index (BMI) and diastolic blood pressure percentiles (DBP) (β=-5.25, 95% CI:-8.88,-1.62 and β=-3.95, 95% CI:-7.02,-0.89, respectively) for all, lower skinfold thickness (β=-4.83, 95% CI:-9.97, 0.31 and higher sit-ups (β=1.67, 95% CI:-0.17,3.50) among girls, and lower systolic blood pressure percentiles (SBP) (β=-4.75, 95% CI:-8.99,-0.52) among boys. Greenspace was associated with higher BMI (β=6.17, 95% CI:2.47, 9.87), SBP (β=3.47, 95% CI:-0.05, 6.99), and DBP (β=4.11, 95% CI:1.08, 7.13). Conclusions COI indicators were positively associated with youth fitness. Disparities in youth cardiovascular disease risk may be modifiable through community interventions and built environment initiatives targeting select neighborhood factors.
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Geographical personality differences robustly predict diverse consequential outcomes. However, comparatively little is known about the factors that create such differences, in particular the role of the built environment. To bridge the gap, the present study used a socioecological approach to examine the relationship between walkability and personality. Walkability reflects the degree to which urban areas are easily walkable and accessible for pedestrians. As such it is considered a defining feature of people's living environments. We utilized a large sample from the Data Sharing for Psychology in Japan (DSPJ) project, which assessed the Big Five personality traits of 5,141 Japanese residents. Walkability estimates were extracted from Walk Score, an established online platform, based on individuals' place of living. Building on prior research, we hypothesized that walkability would be positively linked to Agreeableness and Extraversion due to increased opportunities for social interactions and selective migration. Multiple regression analyses showed that walkability was positively related to Extraversion (B = 0.033; 95%CI [.019, .047]; β = 0.066), but not to Agreeableness. This pattern persisted in the presence of a conservative set of individual and socioecological controls. Taken together, our research suggests that walkable urban environments may be conducive to a more animated and lively social climate which is reflected in heightened extraversion among residents of such areas. As such it advances psych-geographical theory and our understanding of the role of the built environment in the emergence of geographical personality differences.
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Being physically active in natural environments has been linked with multiple mental and physical health benefits. However, not all urban contexts can provide their residents the same access to green areas for walking and sport activities. Mediterranean cities provide open spaces for physical activity that differ from those of Northern European cities. This study explores both conventional spaces in the form of public parks and urban green spaces, i.e. beaches, tree-lined streets, boulevards and public squares, in relation to the daily walking levels of residents in a Mediterranean city, such as Barcelona by presenting findings based on examining and assessing spatio-temporal exposure levels measured with the help of smartphones and publicly available GIS layers. To achieve this, both exposure and daily walking time were measured from GIS and GPS-based smartphone tracking data for 127 adult individuals from Barcelona, Spain. Based on these measurements, it was determined that the presence of large-scale open spaces for physical activity, such as beaches or large parks in the participants’ daily walking routes, proved to have the highest association with daily walking time. Also, underexplored forms of nature, such as street trees were also positively correlated with individual walking levels. Additionally, small-scale public spaces, such as public squares and boulevards, indicated a considerably negative association with walking time. The findings from this study confirm existing evidence on the health benefits of urban greenness and broaden the analytical focus on the role and impact of green space provision on physical health. Altogether, street trees and the presence of both blue and traditional green spaces proved to be significant factors of increased walking levels.
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INTRODUCTION: Parks in the US and Australia are generally underutilised, and park visitors typically engage in low levels of physical activity (PA). Better understanding park features that may encourage visitors to be active is important. This study examined the perceived importance of park features for encouraging park-based PA and examined differences by sex, age, parental-status and participation in PA. METHODS: Cross-sectional surveys were completed by local residents (n = 2775) living near two parks (2013/2015). Demographic variables, park visitation and leisure-time PA were self-reported, respondents rated the importance of 20 park features for encouraging park-based PA in the next fortnight. Chi-square tests of independence examined differences in importance of park features for PA among sub-groups of local residents (sex, age, parental-status, PA). RESULTS: Park features ranked most important for park-based PA were: well maintained (96.2%), feel safe (95.4%), relaxing atmosphere (91.2%), easy to get to (91.7%), and shady trees (90.3%). All subgroups ranked 'well maintained' as most important. CONCLUSIONS: Natural and built environment features of parks are important for promoting adults' park-based PA, and should be considered in park (re)design.
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The relationship between sedentary behaviour and physical activity and their role in the development of health conditions is an ongoing topic of research. This debate paper presents arguments in favour and against the statement: “Is sedentary behaviour just physical inactivity by another name?” The paper finishes with recommendations for future research in the field of sedentary behaviour, physical activity and public health.
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Background This study examined whether specific worksite supports for physical activity (PA) were associated with total and domain-specific PA. Methods A cross-sectional, telephone-based study was conducted in four Missouri, USA, metropolitan areas in 2012 and 2013. Outcome variables included total PA and sub-domains (leisure, work, travel) measured using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Logistic regression determined odds of meeting PA recommendations, given access to and use of 18 unique PA worksite supports. A subsample of 119 participants also wore hip accelerometry for seven consecutive days and maintained a wear-time diary. Access to worksite supports were associated with odds of meeting objective moderate and vigorous (MV) PA above 150 min per week. Results Among 2013 survey participants, meeting PA recommendations while performing work-related tasks was significantly associated with several supports (e.g., walking maps, stair prompts), as was meeting recommendations during travel (e.g., flextime for PA, incentives for public transportation, walking/bicycling to work). Access to 11 worksite supports increased odds of meeting PA recommendations through leisure-time PA; five supports were associated with total PA. There were significant differences between access to and use of supports. Using objective MVPA, access to worksite challenges and bike storage were significantly associated with five and three times greater odds of meeting 150 min of MVPA per week, respectively. Conclusions Worksite wellness plans are increasing across the US and employers are eager for evidence-based supports for increasing PA. This study provides insights into the utility of multiple worksite supports for PA to increase odds that employees meet PA recommendations.
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Introduction The aim of this study was to estimate the associations between neighbourhood built environment characteristics and transportation walking (TW), recreational walking (RW), and moderate-intensity (MPA) and vigorous-intensity physical activity (VPA) in adults independent of sociodemographic characteristics and residential self-selection (i.e. the reasons related to physical activity associated with a person’s choice of neighbourhood). Methods In 2007 and 2008, 4423 Calgary adults completed land-based telephone interviews capturing physical activity, sociodemographic characteristics and reasons for residential self-selection. Using spatial data, we estimated population density, proportion of green space, path/cycleway length, business density, bus stop density, city-managed tree density, sidewalk length, park type mix and recreational destination mix within a 1.6 km street network distance from the participants’ geolocated residential postal code. Generalized linear models estimated the associations between neighbourhood built environment characteristics and weekly neighbourhood-based physical activity participation (≥ 10 minutes/week; odds ratios [ORs]) and, among those who reported participation, duration of activity (unstandardized beta coefficients [B]). Results The sample included more women (59.7%) than men (40.3%) and the mean (standard deviation) age was 47.1 (15.6) years. TW participation was associated with intersection (OR = 1.11; 95% CI: 1.03 to 1.20) and business (OR = 1.52; 1.29 to 1.78) density, and sidewalk length (OR = 1.19; 1.09 to 1.29), while TW minutes was associated with business (B = 19.24 minutes/week; 11.28 to 27.20) and tree (B = 6.51; 2.29 to 10.72 minutes/week) density, and recreational destination mix (B = −8.88 minutes/ week; −12.49 to −5.28). RW participation was associated with path/cycleway length (OR = 1.17; 1.05 to 1.31). MPA participation was associated with recreational destination mix (OR = 1.09; 1.01 to 1.17) and sidewalk length (OR = 1.10; 1.02 to 1.19); however, MPA minutes was negatively associated with population density (B = −8.65 minutes/ week; −15.32 to −1.98). VPA participation was associated with sidewalk length (OR = 1.11; 1.02 to 1.20), path/cycleway length (OR = 1.12; 1.02 to 1.24) and proportion of neighbourhood green space (OR = 0.89; 0.82 to 0.98). VPA minutes was associated with tree density (B = 7.28 minutes/week; 0.39 to 14.17). Conclusion Some neighbourhood built environment characteristics appear important for supporting physical activity participation while others may be more supportive of increasing physical activity duration. Modifications that increase the density of utilitarian destinations and the quantity of available sidewalks in established neighbourhoods could increase overall levels of neighbourhood-based physical activity.
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Background: This study aimed to examine the associations between time spent in prolonged and non-prolonged sedentary bouts and the development of metabolic syndrome. Methods: We used data from a prospective study of Japanese workers. Baseline examination was conducted between 2010 and 2011. A total of 430 office workers (58 women) aged 40-64 years without metabolic syndrome were followed up by annual health checkups until 2014. Metabolic syndrome was defined as having ≥ 3 out of 5 diagnostic criteria from the Joint Interim Statement 2009 definition. Sedentary time was assessed using a tri-axial accelerometer. Time spent in total, prolonged (accumulated ≥ 30 min) and non-prolonged sedentary bouts (accumulated < 30 min) was calculated. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the risk of developing metabolic syndrome. Results: During a median follow-up of 3 years, 83 participants developed metabolic syndrome. After adjustment for age, sex, education, smoking, and family income, positive associations were observed between time spent in prolonged sedentary bouts and the development of metabolic syndrome. After additional adjustment for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, those in the three highest quartiles of time spent in prolonged sedentary bouts showed higher risk of metabolic syndrome compared to the lowest quartile group, with adjusted hazard ratios (95 % confidence intervals) of 2.72 (1.30 – 5.73), 2.42 (1.11 – 5.50), and 2.85 (1.31 – 6.18), respectively. No associations were seen for time spent in total and non-prolonged sedentary bouts. Conclusions: Sedentary behavior accumulated in a prolonged manner was associated with an increased risk of metabolic syndrome. In devising public health recommendations for the prevention of metabolic disease, the avoidance of prolonged uninterrupted periods of sedentary behavior should be considered.
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Purpose: To determine if physical activity patterns are associated with sleep later at night, and if nighttime sleep is associated with physical activity patterns the next day, among adult women. Methods: Women (N=353) living throughout the U.S. wore a wrist and a hip accelerometer for 7 days. Total sleep time (TST, hrs/night) and sleep efficiency (SE, %) were estimated from the wrist accelerometer; and moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA, >1040 counts per minute [cpm], hrs/d) and sedentary behavior (SB, <100 cpm, hrs/d) were estimated from the hip accelerometer. Mixed-effects models adjusted for age, race, body mass index (BMI), education, employment, marital status, health status, and hip accelerometer wear time were used to analyze the data. Follow-up analyses using quantile regression were used to investigate associations among women with below average TST and MVPA, and above average SB. Results: The average age of our sample was 55.5 (SD = 10.2) years. The majority of participants were white (79%) and married (72%), and half were employed full-time (49%). The participants spent on average 8.9 and 1.1 hours per day in SB and MVPA, respectively, and 6.8 hours per night asleep. No associations were observed between MVPA and SB with nighttime TST or SE. There were no associations between nighttime TST and SE with MVPA or SB the next day. The findings were the same in the quantile regression analyses. Conclusion: In free-living adult women, accelerometry-estimated nighttime sleep and physical activity patterns were not associated with one another. Based on our observational study involving a sample of adult women, higher physical activity will not necessarily improve sleep at night on a day-to-day basis (and vice versa).
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The main purpose of the present study was to assess the impact of global positioning system (GPS) signal lapse on physical activity analyses, discover any existing associations between missing GPS data and environmental and demographics attributes, and to determine whether imputation is an accurate and viable method for correcting GPS data loss. Accelerometer and GPS data of 782 participants from 8 studies were pooled to represent a range of lifestyles and interactions with the built environment. Periods of GPS signal lapse were identified and extracted. Generalised linear mixed models were run with the number of lapses and the length of lapses as outcomes. The signal lapses were imputed using a simple ruleset, and imputation was validated against person-worn camera imagery. A final generalised linear mixed model was used to identify the difference between the amount of GPS minutes pre- and post-imputation for the activity categories of sedentary, light, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Over 17% of the dataset was comprised of GPS data lapses. No strong associations were found between increasing lapse length and number of lapses and the demographic and built environment variables. A significant difference was found between the pre- and postimputation minutes for each activity category. No demographic or environmental bias was found for length or number of lapses, but imputation of GPS data may make a significant difference for inclusion of physical activity data that occurred during a lapse. Imputing GPS data lapses is a viable technique for returning spatial context to accelerometer data and improving the completeness of the dataset.
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Investigating the built environment determinants of commuting behaviors to and from the workplace has long been of interest to travel behavior researchers. Specific attention has centered on examination of how smart growth policies encourage both trip-chaining and active travel. Yet, limited research has investigated the impact of the built environment on activity participation and pedestrian travel once the worker has arrived at his/her workplace. A research omission that exists despite the prospect that built environment densification and diversification within employment districts may encounter less opposition from the local community and commuter. Our study investigates these identified gaps by analyzing how the built environment near an individual’s workplace as well as personal, household, and tour-related attributes relate to work-based sub-tour activity participation and walking for activity fulfillment. A bivariate selection model estimated the workplace built environment determinants of work-based sub-tour participation and the likelihood to initiate travel for these sub-tour activities on foot. Findings from this Portland, Oregon study revealed that design and diversity features predicted work-based subtour participation; while, the decision to walk to start a sub-tour was strongly associated with a workplace built environment characterized by a traditional neighborhood design and increased residential density.
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Walking for the daily commute is one potential strategy for increasing physical activity levels. Understanding the behaviour-specific environmental correlates associated with commuter walking will help effective interventions to be identified and developed. The aim of this study was to examine the associations of perceptions of the environment in the workplace 'neighbourhood' and commuter walking.Participants in the baseline survey of the Walking Works intervention study reported perceptions of ten environmental attributes in their workplace neighbourhood, availability of public transport, time spent walking to and from work in the last seven days, their participation in physical activity and socio-demographic characteristics (n=676). We built a series of multivariate logistic regression models to examine associations between each environmental item, public transport availability and commuter walking.Half (52%) of respondents were classified as commuter walkers (n=352) (66% female; 47% aged <30 years). Respondents were significantly more likely to walk for their daily commute if they reported there to be convenient walking routes (OR (odds ratio) 2.05, 95% CI (confidence interval) 1.23-3.42), suitable pavements (OR 2.23, 95% CI 1.23-4.04), maintained pavements (OR 1.64, 95% CI 1.02-2.62) or convenient public transport (OR 4.98, 95% CI 3.34-7.44) after adjusting for socio-demographic characteristics, free car parking at work and distance lived from work.Creating 'pedestrian friendly' environments in workplace surroundings may be important for encouraging walking for the daily commute to work. Such environments would include convenient routes, suitable and maintained pedestrian infrastructure and convenient access to public transport. Improving and maintaining the walking environment around existing workplaces and ensuring infrastructure around new workplaces is designed to support commuter walking should be considered a priority area for investment.
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Background: Active travel is associated with greater physical activity, but there is a dearth of research examining this relationship over time. We examined the longitudinal associations between change in time spent in active commuting and changes in recreational and total physical activity. Methods: Adult commuters working in Cambridge, United Kingdom completed questionnaires in 2009 and 2012, and a sub-set completed objective physical activity monitoring in 2010 and 2012. Commuting was assessed using a validated seven-day travel to work record. Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was assessed using the Recent Physical Activity Questionnaire and combined heart rate and movement sensing. We used multivariable multinomial logistic regression models to examine associations between change in time spent in active commuting and tertiles of changes in time spent in recreational and total physical activity. Results: Four hundred sixty-nine participants (67 % female, mean age 44 years) provided valid travel and self-reported physical activity data. Seventy-one participants (54 % female, mean age 45 years) provided valid travel and objectively measured physical activity data. A decrease in active commuting was associated with a greater likelihood of a decrease in self-reported total physical activity (relative risk ratio [RRR] 2.1, 95 % CI 1.1, 4.1). Correspondingly, an increase in active commuting was associated with a borderline significantly greater likelihood of an increase in self-reported total physical activity (RRR 1.8, 95 % CI 1.0, 3.4). No associations were seen between change in time spent in active commuting and change in time spent in either self-reported recreational physical activity or objectively measured physical activity. Conclusions: Changes in active commuting were associated with commensurate changes in total self-reported physical activity and we found no compensatory changes in self-reported recreational physical activity. Promoting active commuting has potential as a public health strategy to increase physical activity. Future longitudinal research would be useful to verify these findings.
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In recent decades, the mixing of complementary land uses has become an increasingly important goal in transportation and land use planning. Land uses mix has been shown to be an influential factor in travel behavior (mode choice and distance traveled), improved health outcomes, and neighborhood-level quality of life. However, quantifying the extent to which a given area is mixed-use has proven difficult. Much of the existing research on the mixing of land uses has focused on the presence and proportion of different uses as opposed to the extent to which they actually interact with one another. This study proposes a new measure of land use mix, a land use interaction method-which accounts for the extent to which complementary land uses adjoin one another-using only basic land use data. After mapping and analyzing the results, several statistical models are built to show the relationship between this new measure and reported travel behavior. The models presented show the usefulness of the approach by significantly improving the model fit in comparison to a commonly-used land use mix index, while controlling for socio-demographic and built form factors in three large Canadian cities (Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal). Our results suggest that simple, area-based, measures of land use mix do not adequately capture the subtleties of land use mix. The degree to which an area shows fine-grained patterns of land use is shown to be more highly correlated with behavior outcomes than indices based solely on the proportions of land use categories.
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What exactly is meant by the term 'walkability'? In professional, research and public debates the term is used to refer to several quite different kinds of phenomena. Some discussions focus on environmental features or means of making walkable environments, including areas being traversable, compact, physically enticing and safe. Others deal with outcomes potentially fostered by such environments, such as making places lively, enhancing sustainable transportation options and inducing exercise. Finally some use the term walkability as a proxy for better design whether composed of multiple, measurable dimensions or providing a holistic solution to urban problems. This review both problematizes the idea of walkability and proposes a conceptual framework distinguishing these definitions. This matters for urban design, because what is considered a walkable place varies substantially between definitions leading to substantially different designs. By mapping the range of definitions, this review highlights potential conflicts been forms of walkability.
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This cross-sectional study is one of the first to examine and compare the independent associations of objectively measured sedentary time, moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and fitness with cardio-metabolic risk factors. We studied 543 men and women (aged 18-49 years) from the NHANES 2003-2004 survey. Sedentary time and MVPA were measured by accelerometry. Fitness was assessed with a submaximal treadmill test. Cardio-metabolic risk factors included: waist circumference (WC), BMI, blood pressure, fasting glucose, HDL- and non HDL cholesterol, triglycerides (TG), and C-reactive protein (CRP). Sedentary time, MVPA and fitness were used as predictors for the cardio-metabolic outcomes in a multiple regression analysis. Standardized regression coefficients were computed. Results show that sedentary time was associated with HDL-cholesterol (β = -0.080, p = 0.05) and TG (β = 0.080, p = 0.03). These results became non-significant after adjustment for MVPA and fitness. MVPA was associated with WC (β = -0.226), BMI (β = -0.239), TG (β = -0.108) and HDL-cholesterol (β = 0.144) (all p < 0.05). These results remained significant after adjustment for sedentary time and fitness. Fitness was associated with WC (β = -0.287), BMI (β = -0.266), systolic blood pressure (β = -0.159), TG (β = -0.092), and CRP (β = -0.130) (all p < 0.05). After adjustment for sedentary time and MVPA these results remained significant. These differences in relative importance of sedentary time, MVPA and fitness on cardio-metabolic-risk are important in the design of prevention programs. In this population, the strength of the associations between MVPA and fitness with cardio-metabolic markers appeared to be similar; both MVPA and fitness showed independent associations with cardio-metabolic risk factors. In contrast, sedentary time showed no independent associations with cardio-metabolic risk after correction for fitness and MVPA.
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Detroit is a city with low-density housing and a high proportion of lower-socioeconomic-status multiethnic residents. Physical activity tends to be lower in low- to moderate-income urban communities. To understand the design components of healthy neighborhoods, interrelationships between built environment characteristics and walking behavior were studied for three neighborhoods. Results suggest that as independent predictors, higher density and multiple land uses tended to deter walking. However, residents of neighborhoods with strong well-connected street networks (both locally and globally) reported higher levels of walking as compared to those in less well-connected neighborhoods.
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Objectives To examine the associations between socioeconomic position (SEP) and multidomain self-reported and objectively-assessed sedentary time (ST). Design Cross-sectional. Setting General population households in England. Participants 2289 adults aged 16–96 years who participated in the 2008 Health Survey for England. Outcomes Accelerometer-measured ST, and self-reported television time, non-television leisure-time sitting and occupational sitting/standing. We examined multivariable associations between household income, social class, education, area deprivation for each SEP indicator (including a 5-point composite SEP score computed by aggregating individual SEP indicators) and each ST indicator using generalised linear models. Results Accelerometry-measured total ST and occupational sitting/standing were positively associated with SEP score and most of its constituent SEP indicators, while television time was negatively associated with SEP score and education level. Area-level deprivation was largely unrelated to ST. Those in the lowest composite SEP group spent 64 (95% CIs 52 to 76) and 72 (48 to 98), fewer minutes/day in total ST and occupational sitting/standing compared to those in the top SEP group, and an additional 48 (35–60) min/day watching television (p<0.001 for linear trend). Stratified analyses showed that these associations between composite SEP score and total ST were evident only among participants who were in employment. Conclusions Occupational sitting seems to drive the positive association between SEP and total ST. Lower SEP is linked to higher TV viewing times.
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This study investigated the effects of the proximity to city parks and the influence of residential greenness on children's emotional and behavioral problems. This cross-sectional study included 1,468 mothers of children (ages 4 to 6) who were residents of the city of Kaunas, Lithuania. The mothers and their children were enrolled in the FP7 PHENOTYPE project study. The mothers reported on their parenting stress and their children's mental health. Residential greenness was characterized as an average of the satellite-derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) in a 300 m buffer around each home address, and the proximity to city parks was defined as the distance from the subject's residence to the nearest park. Linear regression models were used to investigate the association among the residence distances from city parks, greenness and children's mental health problems. Farther residential distance from city parks was associated with worse mental health (except for the emotional problems subscale) in children whose mothers had a lower education level. More residential greenness was associated with worse mental health (more conditional problems and less prosocial behavior) in children whose mothers had a higher education level. These relationships have important implications for the prevention of emotional and behavioral problems in children.
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Background Self-reported and objectively-determined neighborhood built characteristics are associated with physical activity, yet little is known about their combined influence on walking. This study: 1) compared self-reported measures of the neighborhood built environment between objectively-determined low, medium, and high walkable neighborhoods; 2) estimated the relative associations between self-reported and objectively-determined neighborhood characteristics and walking and; 3) examined the extent to which the objectively-determined built environment moderates the association between self-reported measures of the neighborhood built environment and walking. Methods A random cross-section of 1875 Canadian adults completed a telephone-interview and postal questionnaire capturing neighborhood walkability, neighborhood-based walking, socio-demographic characteristics, walking attitudes, and residential self-selection. Walkability of each respondent’s neighborhood was objectively-determined (low [LW], medium [MW], and high walkable [HW]). Covariate-adjusted regression models estimated the associations between weekly participation and duration in transportation and recreational walking and self-reported and objectively-determined walkability. Results Compared with objectively-determined LW neighborhoods, respondents in HW neighborhoods positively perceived access to services, street connectivity, pedestrian infrastructure, and utilitarian and recreation destination mix, but negatively perceived motor vehicle traffic and crime related safety. Compared with residents of objectively-determined LW neighborhoods, residents of HW neighborhoods were more likely (p < .05) to participate in (odds ratio [OR] = 3.06), and spend more time, per week (193 min/wk) transportation walking. Perceived access to services, street connectivity, motor vehicle safety, and mix of recreational destinations were also significantly associated with transportation walking. With regard to interactions, HW x utilitarian destination mix was positively associated with participation, HW x physical barriers and MW x pedestrian infrastructure were positively associated with minutes, and HW x safety from crime was negatively associated with minutes, of transportation walking. Neither neighborhood type nor its interactions with perceived measures of walkability were associated with recreational walking, although perceived aesthetics was associated with participation (OR = 1.18, p < .05). Conclusions Objectively-determined and self-reported built characteristics are associated with neighborhood-based transportation walking. The objectively-determined built environment might moderate associations between perceptions of walkability and neighborhood-based transportation walking. Interventions that target perceptions in addition to modifications to the neighborhood built environment could result in increases in physical activity among adults.
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Background: Occupational sedentary behaviour is an important contributor to overall sedentary risk. There is limited evidence for effective workplace interventions to reduce occupational sedentary time and increase light activity during work hours. The purpose of the study was to determine if participatory workplace interventions could reduce total sedentary time, sustained sedentary time (bouts >30 minutes), increase the frequency of breaks in sedentary time and promote light intensity activity and moderate/vigorous activity (MVPA) during work hours. Methods: A randomised controlled trial (ANZCTR NUMBER: ACTN12612000743864) was conducted using clerical, call centre and data processing workers (n = 62, aged 25-59 years) in 3 large government organisations in Perth, Australia. Three groups developed interventions with a participatory approach: 'Active office' (n = 19), 'Active Workstation' and promotion of incidental office activity; 'Traditional physical activity' (n = 14), pedometer challenge to increase activity between productive work time and 'Office ergonomics' (n = 29), computer workstation design and breaking up computer tasks. Accelerometer (ActiGraph GT3X, 7 days) determined sedentary time, sustained sedentary time, breaks in sedentary time, light intensity activity and MVPA on work days and during work hours were measured before and following a 12 week intervention period. Results: For all participants there was a significant reduction in sedentary time on work days (-1.6%, p = 0.006) and during work hours (-1.7%, p = 0.014) and a significant increase in number of breaks/sedentary hour on work days (0.64, p = 0.005) and during work hours (0.72, p = 0.015); there was a concurrent significant increase in light activity during work hours (1.5%, p = 0.012) and MVPA on work days (0.6%, p = 0.012). Conclusions: This study explored novel ways to modify work practices to reduce occupational sedentary behaviour. Participatory workplace interventions can reduce sedentary time, increase the frequency of breaks and improve light activity and MVPA of office workers by using a variety of interventions. Trial registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTN12612000743864.
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To quantify the association between daily total sitting and all-cause mortality risk and to examine dose-response relationships with and without adjustment for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Studies published from 1989 to January 2013 were identified via searches of multiple databases, reference lists of systematic reviews on sitting and health, and from authors' personal literature databases. We included prospective cohort studies that had total daily sitting time as a quantitative exposure variable, all-cause mortality as the outcome and reported estimates of relative risk, or odds ratios or hazard ratios with 95% confidence intervals. Two authors independently extracted the data and summary estimates of associations were computed using random effects models. Six studies were included, involving data from 595,086 adults and 29,162 deaths over 3,565,569 person-years of follow-up. Study participants were mainly female, middle-aged or older adults from high-income countries; mean study quality score was 12/15 points. Associations between daily total sitting time and all-cause mortality were not linear. With physical activity adjustment, the spline model of best fit had dose-response HRs of 1.00 (95% CI: 0.98-1.03), 1.02 (95% CI: 0.99-1.05) and 1.05 (95% CI: 1.02-1.08) for every 1-hour increase in sitting time in intervals between 0-3, >3-7 and >7 h/day total sitting, respectively. This model estimated a 34% higher mortality risk for adults sitting 10 h/day, after taking physical activity into account. The overall weighted population attributable fraction for all-cause mortality for total daily sitting time was 5.9%, after adjusting for physical activity. Higher amounts of daily total sitting time are associated with greater risk of all-cause mortality and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity appears to attenuate the hazardous association. These findings provide a starting point for identifying a threshold on which to base clinical and public health recommendations for overall sitting time, in addition to physical activity guidelines.
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Background: Because of confounding from the urban/rural and socioeconomic organizations of territories and resulting correlation between residential and nonresidential exposures, classically estimated residential neighborhood-outcome associations capture nonresidential environment effects, overestimating residential intervention effects. Our study diagnosed and corrected this "residential" effect fallacy bias applicable to a large fraction of neighborhood and health studies. Methods: Our empirical application investigated the effect that hypothetical interventions raising the residential number of services would have on the probability that a trip is walked. Using global positioning systems (GPS) tracking and mobility surveys over 7 days (227 participants, 7440 trips), we employed a multilevel linear probability model to estimate the trip-level association between residential number of services and walking to derive a naïve intervention effect estimate; and a corrected model accounting for numbers of services at the residence, trip origin, and trip destination to determine a corrected intervention effect estimate (true effect conditional on assumptions). Results: There was a strong correlation in service densities between the residential neighborhood and nonresidential places. From the naïve model, hypothetical interventions raising the residential number of services to 200, 500, and 1000 were associated with an increase by 0.020, 0.055, and 0.109 of the probability of walking in the intervention groups. Corrected estimates were of 0.007, 0.019, and 0.039. Thus, naïve estimates were overestimated by multiplicative factors of 3.0, 2.9, and 2.8. Conclusions: Commonly estimated residential intervention-outcome associations substantially overestimate true effects. Our somewhat paradoxical conclusion is that, to estimate residential effects, investigators critically need information on nonresidential places visited.
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In line with a growing interest in complementing surveys with tracking technologies, this paper aims to explore what differences between perceived and real travel time can be found by using a smartphone-based tracking application. This is justified based on the fact that self-reported trip durations in traditional mobility data sources are based on travelers’ memories and perceptions, which implies that these do not necessarily coincide with real or clock time. For this purpose, the daily commute to a suburban university campus in the Barcelona Metropolitan Region (Spain) is used as a case study. The app experiment points to a light under-perception of travel time, but further analyses show how misperceptions are especially related to the characteristics of this commute. Total trip duration has emerged as the main variable affecting the differences in reported and objective times, while different explanatory factors are suggested as accounting for the misperceptions of public transit riders and of those who drive.