Built Environment and Health Behaviors: Deconstructing the Black Box of Interactions—A Review of Reviews

Abstract

A review of reviews following a scoping review study design was conducted in order to deconstruct the black box of interactions between the built environment and human behaviors pertaining to physical activity and/or diet. In the qualitative analysis 107 records were included, 45 of which were also coded. Most review papers confirmed the influence of the built environment on the behaviors of interest with some noting that a same built environment feature could have different behavioral outcomes. The conceptual model developed sheds light on these mixed results and brings out the role of several personal and behavioral factors in the shift from the measured to the perceived built environment. This shift was found to shape individuals’ behaviors critically and to have the power of redefining the strength of every interaction. Apart from its theoretical relevance, this model has high practical relevance especially for the design and implementation of interventions with a behavioral component. Intervention researchers can use the model developed to identify and label the built environment and individual factors that can be measured objectively or perceived as facilitators, concurrent options and barriers, in order to develop comprehensive and multi-component intervention strategies.

Healthy Places for Children: The Critical Role of Engagement, Common Vision, and Collaboration

“…Community planning provides the policy foundation for zoning codes and services which meet children’s needs [ 20 , 21 ]. Most studies focus on the relation between the physical built environment and child health, such as streets and sidewalks to ensure walkability [ 8 , 22 , 23 ], neighborhood characteristics such as mixed use and access to play spaces [ 9 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 ], and housing characteristics [ 13 , 29 ].…”

Associations between the built environment and dietary intake, physical activity, and obesity: A scoping review of reviews

“…There exists a large body of research evidence examining the association between built environment and both obesity and weight‐related behaviors (e.g., dietary intake and physical activity of individuals). In 2012, Ding and Gebel 21 conducted a review of review studies investigating associations between the built environment, physical activity, and obesity, and in 2019, Travert and colleagues 22 conducted a review of review studies investigating associations between the built environment, dietary intake, and physical activity. To date, however, there has not been a comprehensive review of reviews examining how built environment features are associated with all of these outcomes (dietary intake, physical activity, and obesity) combined.…”

Neighbourhood characteristics as a predictor of adherence to dietary recommendations: A population-based cohort study of Finnish adults

“…However, as the adjustments attenuated this finding, it is likely that low population density alone does not explain poor dietary choices in the Finnish, or nordic, context. Associations between socioeconomic disadvantage and diet, on the other hand, may be explained by the poorer access to healthy foods because of financial resources, lack of neighbourhood shops, or worse selection of healthy foods in shops of the residential area [6,13].…”

“…Observational studies suggest that healthy dietary habits are more common among residents living in affluent neighbourhood than in disadvantaged neighbourhoods [7][8][9][10], but that may also depend on population density as dietary habits have been found to vary between sparsely populated areas and more densely populated urban areas [11]. Limitation of the earlier evidence is that the findings are mainly based on cross-sectional data or single food items, which may partly explain the mixed findings [9][10][11][12][13].…”