Comparison Study of Perceived Neighborhood-Built Environment and Elderly Leisure-Time Physical Activity between Hangzhou and Wenzhou, China

Abstract

Physical activity and health are of significant importance for the rapid aging population in China. Built environment has been suggested to be associated with elderly physical activity and health. However, the association differences between cities remain unclear. Perceived built environment scores and elderly leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) of 308 elderly in Hangzhou and 304 elderly in Wenzhou were collected using Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale and International Physical Activity Questionnaire, respectively. A multivariate linear regression method and T-test were used to analyze of the associations between elderly LTPA and built environment and the differences between the two cities, respectively. The results showed that LTPA was positively associated with walking/cycling facilities and crime safety in both cities. LTPA was positively correlated with residential density, aesthetics, pedestrian/traffic safety in Wenzhou and negatively correlated with access to services in Hangzhou. The perceived scores of aesthetics (2.71 vs. 2.45) and pedestrian/traffic safety (2.11 vs. 1.71) in Hangzhou were significantly higher than those in Wenzhou. The results suggested that built environment elements like higher walking/cycling facilities and crime safety may motivate elderly engaging LTPA in both cities. However, LTPA was affected by different factors in these two cities. In the urban redevelopment, survey conducted in its own city would provide meaningful information and cannot be neglected.

The Associations of Built Environment with Older People Recreational Walking and Physical Activity in a Chinese Small-Scale City of Yiwu

“…This study was conducted in the city of Yiwu, which is a small-scale city of Zhejiang province in the eastern region of China. Compared with the cities surveyed by previous Chinese studies [ 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 ], Yiwu is smaller both in the resident population and economic development. The official population was 810,000 in 2019.…”

“…The evaluated built environments include the participants’ communities and the neighborhood with 10–15 min walking distance. The reliability and validity of NEWS-A have been confirmed by a previous study [ 44 ] and has been widely used in previous studies [ 29 , 30 , 32 , 33 , 40 ]. The detailed description of NEWS-A could be found in our previous study [ 30 ].…”

“…Hence, how to build an age-friendly neighborhood environment in the urban construction process to help older people overcome fears like falling is a vital question needed to be considered for policy decision makers. Unfortunately, although some Chinese studies investigated the effect of built environment on older people’s physical activity [ 29 , 30 , 31 , 36 , 37 , 38 ], none of them especially focused on the influence of the built environment on older people’s moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity. Due to the small sample size in our study, we also failed to locate this association.…”

“…Numerous previous studies have indicated that built environment plays an important role in older people physical activity, and some of them especially focused on older people’s RW and RPA [ 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 ]. In a study with 13,745 older participants from 12 countries, Sugiyama et al observed that older people’s RW was linearly associated with perceived residential density, land use mix, street connectivity, aesthetics, safety from crime, and proximity to parks [ 34 ].…”

“…There are a few studies investigating the effect of built environment on Chinese adults [ 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 ], and some of them focused on older people [ 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 36 , 37 , 38 ]. However, considering the huge number of population and the diversity of the city environment in China, more studies are still needed.…”