Designing healthy communities: Testing the walkability model

Neighborhood Design, Physical Activity, and Wellbeing: Applying the Walkability Model

“…The framework divides the neighborhood design elements into nine categories: connectivity , land-use , density , traffic safety , surveillance , parking , experience , greenspace , and community . In our exploration of the utility of this approach in accurately measuring the interactions between the built environment and physical activity we found significant correlations between all of the walkability categories (built environment) and people walking (physical activity), and we called this the Walkability Model [ 42 ]. In this study we apply this model to measure walkability in four neighborhood design types.…”

“…Walking for recreation refers to walking with the sole purpose of exercise and recreation, whereas walking for transportation refers to walking with the purpose of reaching a destination [ 43 , 44 ]. Each type of walking is influenced by different characteristics of the built environment [ 42 , 45 ]. Evidence of the relationship of the built environment and the two motivations for walking is still limited and inconsistent, where most studies link the built environment to walking for transportation but not for walking for recreation [ 4 , 6 , 43 ]; where land-use (proximity to services as destinations for walking), traffic safety (pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure), and safety from crime (or surveillance) are important correlates [ 45 ].…”

Investigating the association between streetscapes and human walking activities using Google Street View and human trajectory data

“…The social-ecological theory of human behavior suggests that environmental factors in cities influence the likelihood of people being physically active (Kraus et al, 2015;Sallis, Bauman, & Pratt, 1998;Sallis, Floyd, Rodriguez, & Saelens, 2012;Zuniga-Teran et al, 2017). Many environmental factors, such as higher housing density, easier access to transit, and greater land use mix, have been found to be influential in determining people's physical activities (Coogan et al, 2009;Frank, Saelens, Powell, & Chapman, 2007;Kerr et al, 2014;Leslie et al, 2007;Zuniga-Teran et al, 2017).…”

“…The social-ecological theory of human behavior suggests that environmental factors in cities influence the likelihood of people being physically active (Kraus et al, 2015;Sallis, Bauman, & Pratt, 1998;Sallis, Floyd, Rodriguez, & Saelens, 2012;Zuniga-Teran et al, 2017). Many environmental factors, such as higher housing density, easier access to transit, and greater land use mix, have been found to be influential in determining people's physical activities (Coogan et al, 2009;Frank, Saelens, Powell, & Chapman, 2007;Kerr et al, 2014;Leslie et al, 2007;Zuniga-Teran et al, 2017). The connection between human physical activities and environmental factors gives a motivation to the development of the Walk Score, which incorporates built environment variables together with some other variables of amenity categories such as grocery stores, restaurants, parks, banks, schools, movie theaters, libraries, and other urban facilities to indicate a neighborhood's capacity to support physical activity (Carr, Dunsiger, & Marcus, 2010;Duncan, Aldstadt, Whalen, Melly, & Gortmaker, 2011;Walk Score, 2017).…”

“…Designing more walkable and pedestrian-friendly streets is therefore a promising method to promote human physical activities and prevent chronic health issues (Ewing & Handy, 2009;Yin & Wang, 2016). The relationship between the urban built environment and physical activity is still not exactly quantified and measured, with only some recent efforts in this area (Christian et al, 2011;Zuniga-Teran et al, 2017).…”