Influences of Built Environment on Walking and Cycling by Latent Segments of Aging Population
Abstract
Walking and bicycling are relatively easy ways for the growing group of older adults to be physically active. The built environment may facilitate or restrict participation in walking and bicycling trips. A study was done to describe aspects of participation in walking and bicycling activities and to explore their role for various segments of the aging population. Specifically, the effect of environmental characteristics, various types of land use, and degree of urbanization on participation in walking and bicycling, for both leisure and transportation, was examined. Detailed individual travel data were correlated with objectively defined environmental attributes. The results show that people make more walking trips in more highly urbanized areas, whereas they use their bikes more often in less-urbanized areas. A significant effect was found for the impact of total surface of recreation areas on both types of physical activity. Specifically, highly urbanized neighborhoods with a low percentage of recreation and green areas are related to physical inactivity. The study suggests that compact, high-density neighborhoods may not be a good urban design concept if health is considered.
Get full access to this article
View all access and purchase options for this article.
References
1. Payne L. L., Mowen A. J., and Orsega-Smith E. An Examination of Park Preferences and Behaviors Among Urban Residents: The Role of Residential Location, Race and Age. Leisure Sciences, Vol. 24, 2002, pp. 181–198.
2. Physical Activity for Everyone. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2008. www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/physical/everyone/recommendations/older_adults.htm. Accessed June 18, 2008.
3. Sugiyama T., Thompson C. W., and Alves S. Associations Between Neighborhood Open Space Attributes and Quality of Life for Older People in Britain. Environment and Behavior, Vol. 41, No. 1, 2009, pp. 3–21.
4. World Health Organization. Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health. www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/pa/en/index.html. Accessed April 3, 2008.
5. Handy S. L., Boarnet M. G., Ewing R., and Killingsworth R. E. How the Built Environment Affects Physical Activity. Views from Urban Planning. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Vol. 23, No. 2S, 2002, pp. 64–73.
6. Saelens B. E., Sallis J. F., and Frank L. D. Environmental Correlates of Walking and Bicycling: Findings form the Transportation, Urban Design, and Planning Literatures. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, Vol. 25, No. 2, 2003, pp. 80–91.
7. Joseph A., and Zimring C. Where Active Older Adults Walk. Environment and Behavior, Vol. 39, No. 1, 2007, pp. 75–105.
8. Handy S., and Mokhtarian P. Which Comes First? The Neighborhood or the Walking? Access, Vol. 26, 2005, pp. 16–21.
9. Giles-Corti B., Macintyre S., Clarrkson J. P., Pikora T., and Donovan R. J. Environmental and Lifestyle Factors Associated with Overweight and Obesity in Perth, Australia. American Journal of Health Promotion., Vol. 18, No. 1, 2003, pp. 93–102.
10. Frank L. D., Sallis J. F., Conway T. L., Chapman J. E., Saelens B. E., and Bachman W. Many Pathways from Land Use to Health: Associations Between Neighborhood Walkability and Active Transportation, Body Mass Index, and Air Quality. Journal of the American Planning Association, Vol. 72, No. 1, 2006, pp. 75–87.
11. Owen N., Humpel N., Leslie E., Bauman A., and Sallis F. Understanding Environmental Influences on Walking: Review and Research Agenda. American Journal of Predictive Medicine, Vol. 27, No. 1, 2004, pp. 67–76.
12. Special Report 282: Does the Built Environment Influence Physical Activity? Examining the Evidence. Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington, D.C., 2005.
13. Ewing R., Schmid T., Killingsworth R., Zlot A., and Raudenbush S. Relationship Between Urban Sprawl and Physical Activity, Obesity, and Morbidity. American Journal of Health Promotion, Vol. 18, No. 1, 2003, pp. 47–57.
14. Hoehner C. M., Brennan Ramirez L. K., Elliot M. B., Handy S. L., and Brownson R. C. Perceived and Objective Environmental Measures of Physical Activity Among Urban Adults. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Vol. 28, No. 2S2, 2005, pp. 105–116.
15. Li F., Fisher K. J., Brownson R. C., and Bosworth M. Multilevel Modeling of Built Environment Characteristics Related to Neighbourhood Walking Activity in Older Adults. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, Vol. 59, No. 7, 2005, pp. 558–564.
16. Greenwald M. J., and Boarnet M. G. Built Environment as Determinant of Walking Behavior: Analyzing Nonwork Pedestrian Travel in Portland, Oregon. In Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 1780, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington, D.C., 2001, pp. 33–42.
17. Wells N. M., Ashdown S. P., Davies E. H. S., Cowett F. D., and Yang Y. Environment, Design, and Obesity: Opportunities for Interdisciplinary Collaborative Research. Environment and Behavior, Vol. 39, No. 6, 2007, pp. 6–33.
18. Maas J., Verheij R. A., Groenewegen P. P., De Vries S., and Spreeuwenberg P. Green Space, Urbanity, and Health: How Strong is the Relation? Journal of Epidemiological Community Health, Vol. 60, 2006, pp. 587–592.
19. Swait J. A Structural Equation Model of Latent Segmentation and Product Choice for Cross-Sectional Revealed Preference Data. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1994, pp. 77–89.
20. Boxall P. C., and Adamowicz W. L. Understanding Heterogeneous Preferences in Random Utility Models: A Latent Class Approach. Environmental and Resource Economics, Vol. 23, 2002, pp. 421–446.
21. Greene W. H., and Hensher D. A. A Latent Class Model for Discrete Choice Analysis: Contrast with Mixed Logit. ITS-WP-02-08. Institute of Transport Studies, University of Sydney, Australia, 2002.
22. Gupta S., and Chintagunta P. K. On Using Demographic Variables to Determine Segment Membership in Logit Mixture Models. Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 31, 1994, pp. 128–136.
23. Kahn E. B., Heath G. W., Powell K. E., Stone E. J., and Brownson R. C. Increasing Physical Activity: A Report on Recommendations of the Task Force on Community Preventive Services. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Vol. 50, No. 18, 2001, pp. 1–14.
24. Maat K., and De Vries P. The Influence of the Residential Environment on Green-Space Travel: Testing the Compensation Hypothesis. Environment and Planning A, Vol. 38, 2006, pp. 2111–2127.
25. Mokhtarian P. L., and Cao X. Examining the Impacts of Residential Self-Selection on Travel Behavior: A Focus on Methodologies. Transportation Research B: Methodological, Vol. 42, No. 3, 2008, pp. 204–228.
26. Schwanen T., and Mokhtarian P. L. What Affects Commute Mode Choice: Neighborhood Physical Structure or Preferences Toward Neighborhoods? Journal of Transport Geography, Vol. 13, 2005, pp. 83–99.
27. Frank L. D., Saelens B. E., Powell K. E., and Chapman J. E. Stepping Towards Causation: Do Built Environments or Neighborhood and Travel Preferences Explain Physical Activity, Driving and Obesity? Social Science and Medicine, Vol. 65, 2007, pp. 1898–1914.
28. De Vries S., Verheij R. A., Groenewegen P. P., and Spreeuwenberg P. Natural Environments—Healthy Environments? An Exploratory Analysis of the Relationship Between Greenspace and Health. Environment and Planning A, Vol. 35, No. 10, 2003, pp. 1717–1731.
29. Pucher J., and Dijkstra L. Promoting Safe Walking and Cycling to Improve Public Health: Lessons from the Netherlands and Germany. Public Health Matters, Vol. 93, No. 9, 2003, pp. 1509–1515.
Cite article
Cite article
Cite article
OR
Download to reference manager
If you have citation software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice
Information, rights and permissions
Information
Published In
Article first published online: January 1, 2009
Issue published: January 2009
Authors
Metrics and citations
Metrics
Journals metrics
This article was published in Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board.
VIEW ALL JOURNAL METRICSArticle usage*
Total views and downloads: 301
*Article usage tracking started in December 2016
Altmetric
See the impact this article is making through the number of times it’s been read, and the Altmetric Score.
Learn more about the Altmetric Scores
Articles citing this one
Receive email alerts when this article is cited
Web of Science: 0
Crossref: 71
- Are older adults living in compact development more active? – Evidence...
- Urban form and physical activity through transport: a review based on ...
- The impact of attitudes on bicycle-oriented and car-oriented attitudes...
- Walking down the street: how does the built environment promote physic...
- Analysing the travel behaviour of older adults: what are the determina...
- The Impact of the Neighborhood Built Environment on the Walking Activi...
- Gender differences in active travel among older adults: Non-linear bui...
- How Does Built Environment Affect Metro Trip Time of Elderly? Evidence...
- Quantifying the consumer’s dependence on different information sources...
- Does the built environment matter for active travel among older adults...
- The Impact of Built Environment Factors on Elderly People’s Mobility C...
- Influences of Built Environment at Residential and Work Locations on C...
- Designing Bike-Friendly Cities: Interactive Effects of Built Environme...
- Gender Differences in Environmental Correlates of Cycling Activity amo...
- Factors influencing the usage of shared E-scooters in Chicago
- Using the concept of activity space to understand the social health of...
- Nonlinear Associations of the Built Environment with Cycling Frequency...
- Non-Linear Effects of the Built Environment and Social Environment on ...
- Influence of attitude on bicycle users and non-users: A case study of ...
- Sustainable Streetscape and Built Environment Designs around BRT Stati...
- “We want to go, but there are no options”: Exploring barriers and faci...
- Examining the determinants of freight transport emissions using a flee...
- Health and the Built Environment
- Understanding Spatiotemporal Station and Trip Activity Patterns in the...
- Examining the spatially heterogeneous effects of the built environment...
- Examining non-linear built environment effects on elderly’s walking: A...
- Transport Mode Choice for Residents in a Tourist Destination: The Long...
- Built Environment Correlates of the Propensity of Walking and Cycling
- A tale of two social groups in Xiamen, China: Trip frequency of migran...
- Estimating latent cycling and walking trips in Montreal
- A finite mixture modeling approach to examine New York City bicycle sh...
- Built environment correlates of physical activity in low- and middle-i...
- Parking and restaurant business: Differences in business perceptions a...
- Demographic, medical, social-cognitive, and environmental correlates o...
- Analysis of the impact of street-scale built environment design near m...
- Expenditure-based segmentation of freight travel markets: Identifying ...
- Environmental Factors Associated with Older Adult’s Walking Behaviors:...
- “If I had a regular bicycle, I wouldn’t be out riding anymore”: Perspe...
- Active travel for active ageing in China: The role of built environmen...
- Planejamento e desenho urbanos: uma conciliação possível?
- Uncertainty in Contextual Effects on Mobility: An Exploration of Causa...
- Driverless vehicles' potential influence on bicyclist facility prefere...
- The Relationship between Urbanization, the Built Environment, and Phys...
- Travel behaviour and mobility needs of older adults in an ageing and c...
- Exploring the impact of built environment factors on the use of public...
- A spatial generalized ordered-response model with skew normal kernel e...
- Factors influencing bicycle use: a binary choice model with panel data
- Social-ecological correlates of physical activity in kidney cancer sur...
- Modelling bicycle use intention: the role of perceptions
- How did Bicycle Share Increase in Vitoria-Gasteiz?
- The Importance of the “Local” in Walkability
- To Walk or Not to Walk: Testing the Effect of Path Walkability on Tran...
- Destinations matter: The association between where older adults live a...
- Using Images to Measure Qualitative Attributes of Public Spaces throug...
- How Design of Places Promotes or Inhibits Mobility of Older Adults...
- Community design, street networks, and public health
- The Three Domains of Urban Planning for Health and Well-being
- Walking down the habitual lane: analyzing path dependence effects of m...
- Household, Personal and Environmental Correlates of Rural Elderly’s C...
- Understanding cyclists’ perceptions, keys for a successful bicycle pro...
- Environmental influences on healthy and active ageing: a systematic re...
- The Built Environment and Walking Activity of the Elderly: An Empirica...
- Exploring heterogeneity in travel time expenditure of aging population...
- Environmental mobility barriers and walking for errands among older pe...
- Assessment of the Degree of Willingness to Change from Motorized Trave...
- The adoption behaviours of freeway electronic toll collection: A laten...
- Physical environmental factors related to walking and cycling in older...
- The Role of the Built Environment in Healthy Aging...
- Potential to attract drivers out of their cars in dense urban areas
- Relationship between the physical environment and physical activity in...
- Estimating social travel demand of senior citizens in the Netherlands
Figures and tables
Figures & Media
Tables
View Options
Get access
Access options
If you have access to journal content via a personal subscription, university, library, employer or society, select from the options below:
loading institutional access options
Alternatively, view purchase options below:
Purchase 24 hour online access to view and download content.
Access journal content via a DeepDyve subscription or find out more about this option.
