IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i9p5595-d808597.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How the Built Environment Promotes Residents’ Physical Activity: The Importance of a Holistic People-Centered Perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Yufang Zhang

    (Department of History of Architecture and Urbanism & Expertise Centre Architecture, Urbanism and Health, Faculty of Arts, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 716, 9700 AS Groningen, The Netherlands)

  • Terry van Dijk

    (Department of Spatial Planning & Environment, Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands)

  • Cor Wagenaar

    (Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, P.O. Box 5, 2600 AA Delft, The Netherlands)

Abstract

Promoting adequate physical activity (PA) such as walking and cycling is essential to cope with the global health challenge of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Much research has been conducted to analyze how the built environment can promote PA, but the results are not consistent. Some scholars found that certain built environments such as green spaces generated positive impacts on PA, while some other studies showed no correlations. We suspected that the built environment should be measured in a deeply holistic nuanced way in order to properly reflect its impact on PA. Therefore, our research adopted an integral urban-analysis comparing three typical neighborhoods in Beijing, China. Our data show that the highest PA occurs in the neighborhood with the lowest density, amount of green space and street connectivity, apparently compensated by its low-rise housing type and high appreciation of the quality of sidewalks and street safety. This indicates that dimensions impacting PA have to be considered in context, and the peoples’ perception of the built environment matters.

Suggested Citation

  • Yufang Zhang & Terry van Dijk & Cor Wagenaar, 2022. "How the Built Environment Promotes Residents’ Physical Activity: The Importance of a Holistic People-Centered Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-19, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:9:p:5595-:d:808597
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/9/5595/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/9/5595/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Reid Ewing & Robert Cervero, 2010. "Travel and the Built Environment," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 76(3), pages 265-294.
    2. Saelens, B.E. & Sallis, J.F. & Black, J.B. & Chen, D., 2003. "Neighborhood-Based Differences in Physical Activity: An Environment Scale Evaluation," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(9), pages 1552-1558.
    3. Hiroyuki Kikuchi & Tomoki Nakaya & Tomoya Hanibuchi & Noritoshi Fukushima & Shiho Amagasa & Koichiro Oka & James F. Sallis & Shigeru Inoue, 2018. "Objectively Measured Neighborhood Walkability and Change in Physical Activity in Older Japanese Adults: A Five-Year Cohort Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-14, August.
    4. Yi Lu & Long Chen & Yiyang Yang & Zhonghua Gou, 2018. "The Association of Built Environment and Physical Activity in Older Adults: Using a Citywide Public Housing Scheme to Reduce Residential Self-Selection Bias," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-13, September.
    5. Yang Zhang & Agnes E. Van den Berg & Terry Van Dijk & Gerd Weitkamp, 2017. "Quality over Quantity: Contribution of Urban Green Space to Neighborhood Satisfaction," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-10, May.
    6. Frank, Lawrence Douglas & Saelens, Brian E. & Powell, Ken E. & Chapman, James E., 2007. "Stepping towards causation: Do built environments or neighborhood and travel preferences explain physical activity, driving, and obesity?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(9), pages 1898-1914, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Eun Jung Kim & Suin Jin, 2023. "Walk Score and Neighborhood Walkability: A Case Study of Daegu, South Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-12, February.
    2. Useche, Sergio A. & Alonso, Francisco & Boyko, Aleksey & Buyvol, Polina & Castañeda, Isaac D. & Cendales, Boris & Cervantes, Arturo & Echiburu, Tomas & Faus, Mireia & Gene-Morales, Javier & Gnap, Joze, 2024. "Yes, size does matter (for cycling safety)! Comparing behavioral and safety outcomes in S, M, L, and XL cities from 18 countries," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    3. Marwan Elmubarak & Naeema AlHosani & Mohamed Yagoub & Amar Khamis, 2023. "The Effects of Objective and Perceived Neighborhood Amenities on Youths’ Wellbeing: The Case of the City of Al Ain, UAE," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-18, February.
    4. Suin Jin & Eun Jung Kim, 2024. "Correlation of the Walk Score and Environmental Perceptions with Perceived Neighborhood Walkability: The Quantile Regression Model Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-16, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Neatt, Kevin & Millward, Hugh & Spinney, Jamie, 2017. "Neighborhood walking densities: A multivariate analysis in Halifax, Canada," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 9-16.
    2. Sehatzadeh, Bahareh & Noland, Robert B. & Weiner, Marc D., 2011. "Walking frequency, cars, dogs, and the built environment," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 45(8), pages 741-754, October.
    3. Hamdi Lemamsha & Chris Papadopoulos & Gurch Randhawa, 2018. "Perceived Environmental Factors Associated with Obesity in Libyan Men and Women," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-16, February.
    4. Kevin Credit & Elizabeth Mack, 2019. "Place-making and performance: The impact of walkable built environments on business performance in Phoenix and Boston," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 46(2), pages 264-285, February.
    5. Kajosaari, Anna & Hasanzadeh, Kamyar & Kyttä, Marketta, 2019. "Residential dissonance and walking for transport," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 134-144.
    6. Wenjia Zhang & Ming Zhang, 2018. "Incorporating land use and pricing policies for reducing car dependence: Analytical framework and empirical evidence," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(13), pages 3012-3033, October.
    7. Fernando Fonseca & Escolástica Fernandes & Rui Ramos, 2022. "Walkable Cities: Using the Smart Pedestrian Net Method for Evaluating a Pedestrian Network in Guimarães, Portugal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-23, August.
    8. van de Coevering, Paul & Maat, Kees & van Wee, Bert, 2018. "Residential self-selection, reverse causality and residential dissonance. A latent class transition model of interactions between the built environment, travel attitudes and travel behavior," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 466-479.
    9. Lin, Tao & Wang, Donggen & Guan, Xiaodong, 2017. "The built environment, travel attitude, and travel behavior: Residential self-selection or residential determination?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 111-122.
    10. Zimu Jia & Long Chen & Jingjia Chen & Guowei Lyu & Ding Zhou & Ying Long, 2020. "Urban modeling for streets using vector cellular automata: Framework and its application in Beijing," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 47(8), pages 1418-1439, October.
    11. Wang, Fenglong & Mao, Zidan & Wang, Donggen, 2020. "Residential relocation and travel satisfaction change: An empirical study in Beijing, China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 341-353.
    12. Bojing Liao & Yifan Xu & Xiang Li & Ji Li, 2022. "Association between Campus Walkability and Affective Walking Experience, and the Mediating Role of Walking Attitude," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-13, November.
    13. Gerlinde Grasser & Delfien Dyck & Sylvia Titze & Willibald Stronegger, 2013. "Objectively measured walkability and active transport and weight-related outcomes in adults: a systematic review," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 58(4), pages 615-625, August.
    14. Phani Kumar, P. & Ravi Sekhar, Ch. & Parida, Manoranjan, 2018. "Residential dissonance in TOD neighborhoods," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 166-177.
    15. Millward, Hugh & Spinney, Jamie & Scott, Darren, 2013. "Active-transport walking behavior: destinations, durations, distances," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 101-110.
    16. Sun, Bindong & Yan, Hong & Zhang, Tinglin, 2017. "Built environmental impacts on individual mode choice and BMI: Evidence from China," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 11-21.
    17. Letizia Appolloni & Daniela D’Alessandro, 2023. "Neighborhoods’ Walkability for Elderly People: An Italian Experience," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-22, December.
    18. Janke, Julia, 2021. "Re-visiting residential self-selection and dissonance: Does intra-household decision-making change the results?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 379-401.
    19. Yi Lu & Zhonghua Gou & Yang Xiao & Chinmoy Sarkar & John Zacharias, 2018. "Do Transit-Oriented Developments (TODs) and Established Urban Neighborhoods Have Similar Walking Levels in Hong Kong?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-14, March.
    20. De Vos, Jonas, 2018. "Do people travel with their preferred travel mode? Analysing the extent of travel mode dissonance and its effect on travel satisfaction," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 261-274.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:9:p:5595-:d:808597. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.