The Effect of Neighborhood Environmental Perception on Park Use for Health Improvement - The Case of Suseong-gu in Daegu City -

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of neighborhood environmental perception on park use for health. The study area is focused on neighborhood parks in Suseong-gu, Daegu city. The analysis results are based on questionnaires of 303 respondents. According to the results, park use for health improvement was significantly associated with the perceptions of accessibility to a marketplace, availability of public transit, accessibility to the park, enough sidewalks, number of crosswalks, and athletic population. The probability of park use increased by 2.326 times as the satisfaction of accessibility to the park increased. Also, greater athletic population, fewer crosswalks, and more sidewalks lead to increase of park use by 1.701, 1.617, and 1.642 times, respectively. Therefore, it is important to increase the available neighborhood parks around residences and to develop exercise programs that people can use continuously in order to vitalize park use for health improvement. Also, it is necessary to improve the convenience of walking such as development of pedestrian streets or malls between residences and parks.

How Does the Built Environment in Compact Metropolitan Cities Affect Health? A Systematic Review of Korean Studies

“…Most studies (81%) used physical health-related variables to examine the relationship between the BE and health, including health-related behaviors, illness or death, and perceived health status. The health-related behaviors included moderate or high intensity physical activity, walking, sedentary behavior, and dietary behavior, with walking being the most common [29,32,38,40,41,45,46]. Obesity, allergic disease, and mortality were associated with the BE, and several studies reported a correlation between obesity and the BE [26,27,28,35,40,44,48].…”

“…The density of intersections was highly related to the frequency of walking because of the smaller number and lower speed of automobiles and increased street connectivity [38]. The safety, accessibility, pleasantness, and aesthetics of the street environment were correlated with increased walking and perceived health status [32,34,41,49]. Of these, the safety and accessibility of the street environment were the prominent attributes affecting the mobility of vulnerable groups (e.g., older adults and children).…”

“…Therefore, the distance between neighborhood parks is set by law so that neighboring residents can walk less than 500m and the area is more than 10,000 square meters. ), the buffer is generally determined within 500 m. The safety, convenience, accessibility, pleasantness, and aesthetics of green and open spaces were correlated with increased physical activity and walking for leisure [24,41,45].…”

“…The higher density, shorter distance, and larger number of neighborhood facilities, such as welfare centers, schools, restaurants, stores, hospitals, and surveillance, were correlated with increased walking, and reduced obesity and sedentary behaviors [29,40,48,50]. Furthermore, the safety, accessibility, and aesthetics of the neighborhood facilities were correlated with increased moderate or vigorous physical activity, walking, and perceived health status [24,29,39,41,50]. However, the food environment promoted walking for travel but also acted as a risk factor for obesity [26,35].…”

“…Pedestrian-friendly environments promote walking and social activities of urban residents. In particular, safety and accessibility were important attributes of the pedestrian-friendly environment [32,34,41,43,49]. Korean metropolitan cities are in the process of transitioning from car-oriented cities to pedestrian-friendly cities, and mixed urban spaces shared by vehicles and pedestrians still remain because of space efficiency [59].…”