Interactive impacts of walkability, social vulnerability, & travel behavior on COVID-19 mortality: A hierarchical Bayesian spatial random parameter approach

Impacts of Streetscape Features on Individual Social Capital: Applying Korea’s Neighborhood Data to Street View Images to Improve Lives of the Socially Vulnerable

“…Vulnerability, defined as the erosion of resilience in the face of social and environmental risks, has been a key concept in understanding how different social and environmental contexts affect health and quality of life. Previous research has demonstrated that vulnerability can manifest in the internalization of social and environmental disadvantages, leading to adverse effects on residents' health, resilience, and quality of life [9,12,16]. For instance, socially vulnerable groups such as low-income households, single-parent families, and individuals with disabilities may experience ongoing exposure to risks in their disadvantaged neighborhoods due to limited opportunities for building social capital and moving residences [8,9,20], resulting in further declines in health and well-being.…”

“…Over the past few decades, there has been a growing interest in the fields of public health and urban planning regarding walkability as an indicator of neighborhood quality in terms of built environments. This interest stems from the recognition that pedestrianfriendly environments support social sustainability by encouraging walking, a fundamental physical activity in daily life [16,[36][37][38][39][40]. Consequently, the promotion of design guidelines that incorporate walking and cycling into daily routines is advocated in both developing and developed countries seeking to establish healthy and sustainable urban settings [35].…”

“…In this vein, previous studies have focused on the relationships between the levels of neighborhood social vulnerability and individual social capital [14,15]. Additionally, due to the importance of environmental features, some studies have accounted for built environment attributes when identifying the levels of social vulnerability in neighborhoods [16][17][18][19].…”

Redefining walkability to capture safety: Investing in pedestrian, bike, and street level design features to make it safe to walk and bike

“…The built environment serves as a key focal point that can be retrofitted to improve pedestrian/bicyclist 3 safety outcomes (Stoker et al 2015, Thompson et al 2020, Ahmad et al 2021. Walkable neighborhoods have sustainability and public health related benefitsnamely, support for active travel (Frank et al 2005, Cao et al 2006, Handy et al 2014, better mental health (Wang et al 2019, Guzman et al 2021, Asiamah et al 2022, and lower morbidity and mortality from chronic , Jackson 2003, Rundle et al 2009, Sallis et al 2012, Wali et al 2022) and infectious diseases (Adlakha and Sallis 2021, Alidadi and Sharifi 2022, Wali 2023). In addition, more walkable neighborhoods offer significant motorized user safety benefits noting the previous exception when it comes to exposure to local levels of air pollution which was also found to be positively correlated with walkability (Marshall et al 2009).…”