IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i18p7360-d410480.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Walkability Index for Elderly Health: A Proposal

Author

Listed:
  • Fernando Alves

    (Department of Civil Engineering, University of Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal)

  • Sara Cruz

    (Department of Civil Engineering, University of Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal)

  • Anabela Ribeiro

    (Department of Civil Engineering, University of Coimbra, 3030-790 Coimbra, Portugal)

  • Ana Bastos Silva

    (Department of Civil Engineering, University of Coimbra, 3030-790 Coimbra, Portugal)

  • João Martins

    (Department of Civil Engineering, University of Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal)

  • Inês Cunha

    (Department of Civil Engineering, University of Coimbra, 3030-790 Coimbra, Portugal)

Abstract

Nowadays, the elderly tend to make more trips: Health benefits resulting from their daily walking routines are an important topic in the context of urban renewal processes. Many health organizations and researchers have demonstrated the influence of the urban environment on walkability levels. This article aims to design a multifactor Walkability Index for Elderly Health (WIEH), capable of associating both the adequacy level of public spaces to elderly walkability, and physical exercise benefits while walking. The methodological approach comprised two main parts: Firstly, a literature review of main reports, legislation, and scientific articles was conducted at the intersection of ‘gerontology and physical exercise’ with ‘urban design and mobility’, leading to the selection of four aging-related studies as main contributors to the design of the WIEH; and, secondly, the development of the WIEH was undertaken, based on two premises and designed according to four steps. The first premise defined three systematic areas (urban tissue, urban scene, and safety), variables, and criteria to classify the pedestrian network; and the second premise focused on slopes and stairs in public spaces. The WIEH is divided in four steps: (1) Analyzing public spaces and characterizing their quality for walking, (2) considering the existence of slopes and stairs, (3) calculating different routes for the elderly in their daily routines, or when going to points of interest, and (4) selecting the “heart-friendly route” for elderly people. Adequate walking paths for the elderly can be identified through this innovative approach, with the aim of achieving direct health benefits during their daily routines. Ultimately, the WIEH is capable of supporting decision makers and designers in creating inclusive and age-friendly spaces.

Suggested Citation

  • Fernando Alves & Sara Cruz & Anabela Ribeiro & Ana Bastos Silva & João Martins & Inês Cunha, 2020. "Walkability Index for Elderly Health: A Proposal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-27, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:18:p:7360-:d:410480
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/18/7360/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/18/7360/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sandra Rosenbloom, 2001. "Sustainability and automobility among the elderly: An international assessment," Transportation, Springer, vol. 28(4), pages 375-408, November.
    2. Andrea Rebecchi & Maddalena Buffoli & Marco Dettori & Letizia Appolloni & Antonio Azara & Paolo Castiglia & Daniela D’Alessandro & Stefano Capolongo, 2019. "Walkable Environments and Healthy Urban Moves: Urban Context Features Assessment Framework Experienced in Milan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-18, May.
    3. Letizia Appolloni & Maria Vittoria Corazza & Daniela D’Alessandro, 2019. "The Pleasure of Walking: An Innovative Methodology to Assess Appropriate Walkable Performance in Urban Areas to Support Transport Planning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-26, June.
    4. Sundquist, Kristina & Eriksson, Ulf & Kawakami, Naomi & Skog, Lars & Ohlsson, Henrik & Arvidsson, Daniel, 2011. "Neighborhood walkability, physical activity, and walking behavior: The Swedish Neighborhood and Physical Activity (SNAP) study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(8), pages 1266-1273, April.
    5. Fritz Akhmad NUZIR & Bart Julien DEWANCKER, 2016. "Redefining Place For Walking: A Literature Review And Key-Elements Conception," Theoretical and Empirical Researches in Urban Management, Research Centre in Public Administration and Public Services, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 11(1), pages 56-76, February.
    6. Deirdre Pfeiffer & Scott Cloutier, 2016. "Planning for Happy Neighborhoods," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 82(3), pages 267-279, July.
    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. Miguel Lopes & Fernando Alves, 2021. "Digital Tools to Foster Inclusiveness: Porto’s System of Accessible Itineraries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-16, May.
    2. Zhe Wang & Mardelle Shepley, 2022. "The Relationship of Neighborhood Walking Behavior to Duration of Aging in Place—A Retrospective Cohort Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-13, December.
    3. Fernando Alves & Sara Cruz & Sophia Rother & Tino Strunk, 2021. "An Application of the Walkability Index for Elderly Health—WIEH. The Case of the UNESCO Historic Centre of Porto, Portugal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-18, April.
    4. Kaniz Fatima & Sara Moridpour & Tayebeh Saghapour, 2022. "Measuring Neighbourhood Walking Access for Older Adults," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-21, October.
    5. Maciej Tarkowski & Krystian Puzdrakiewicz, 2021. "Connectivity Benefits of Small Zero-Emission Autonomous Ferries in Urban Mobility—Case of the Coastal City of Gdańsk (Poland)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-13, November.
    6. Varameth Vichiensan & Kazuki Nakamura, 2021. "Walkability Perception in Asian Cities: A Comparative Study in Bangkok and Nagoya," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-22, June.
    7. Poklewski-Koziełł, Damian & Dudzic-Gyurkovich, Karolina & Duarte, Carlos Marmolejo, 2023. "Investigating urban form, and walkability measures in the new developments. The case study of Garnizon in Gdansk," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    8. Bartzokas-Tsiompras, Alexandros & Bakogiannis, Efthimios & Nikitas, Alexandros, 2023. "Global microscale walkability ratings and rankings: A novel composite indicator for 59 European city centres," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    9. Daniella do Amaral Mello Bonatto & Fernando Brandão Alves, 2022. "Application of Walkability Index for Older Adults’ Health in the Brazilian Context: The Case of Vitória-ES, Brazil," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-25, January.
    10. Renato Soares & Helena Corvacho & Fernando Alves, 2021. "Summer Thermal Conditions in Outdoor Public Spaces: A Case Study in a Mediterranean Climate," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-26, May.

    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. Letizia Appolloni & Alberto Giretti & Maria Vittoria Corazza & Daniela D’Alessandro, 2020. "Walkable Urban Environments: An Ergonomic Approach of Evaluation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-31, October.
    2. Ivan Blečić & Tanja Congiu & Giovanna Fancello & Giuseppe Andrea Trunfio, 2020. "Planning and Design Support Tools for Walkability: A Guide for Urban Analysts," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-18, May.
    3. Daniela D’Alessandro & Diego Valeri & Letizia Appolloni, 2020. "Reliability of T-WSI to Evaluate Neighborhoods Walkability and Its Changes over Time," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-16, October.
    4. Kaniz Fatima & Sara Moridpour & Chris De Gruyter & Tayebeh Saghapour, 2020. "Elderly Sustainable Mobility: Scientific Paper Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-17, September.
    5. Suprava Chakraborty & Nallapaneni Manoj Kumar & Arunkumar Jayakumar & Santanu Kumar Dash & Devaraj Elangovan, 2021. "Selected Aspects of Sustainable Mobility Reveals Implementable Approaches and Conceivable Actions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-31, November.
    6. Lovejoy, Kristin, 2012. "Mobility Fulfillment Among Low-car Households: Implications for Reducing Auto Dependence in the United States," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt4v44b5qn, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    7. Alvaro Rodriguez-Valencia & Jose Agustin Vallejo-Borda & German A. Barrero & Hernan Alberto Ortiz-Ramirez, 2022. "Towards an enriched framework of service evaluation for pedestrian and bicyclist infrastructure: acknowledging the power of users’ perceptions," Transportation, Springer, vol. 49(3), pages 791-814, June.
    8. Daniela D’Alessandro & Andrea Rebecchi & Letizia Appolloni & Andrea Brambilla & Silvio Brusaferro & Maddalena Buffoli & Maurizio Carta & Alessandra Casuccio & Liliana Coppola & Maria Vittoria Corazza , 2023. "Re-Thinking the Environment, Cities, and Living Spaces for Public Health Purposes, According with the COVID-19 Lesson: The LVII Erice Charter," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-17, September.
    9. Yu-Chuan Chen & Yung-Ho Chiu & Tzu-Han Chang & Tai-Yu Lin, 2023. "Sustainable Development, Government Efficiency, and People’s Happiness," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 1549-1578, April.
    10. Su, Rongxiang & Xiao, Jingyi & McBride, Elizabeth C. & Goulias, Konstadinos G., 2021. "Understanding senior's daily mobility patterns in California using human mobility motifs," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    11. Qikang Zhong & Bo Li & Tian Dong, 2024. "Building sustainable slow communities: the impact of built environments on leisure-time physical activities in Shanghai," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-21, December.
    12. Andrea Amerio & Andrea Brambilla & Alessandro Morganti & Andrea Aguglia & Davide Bianchi & Francesca Santi & Luigi Costantini & Anna Odone & Alessandra Costanza & Carlo Signorelli & Gianluca Serafini , 2020. "COVID-19 Lockdown: Housing Built Environment’s Effects on Mental Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-10, August.
    13. 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.
    14. Ali Enes Dingil & Federico Rupi & Domokos Esztergár-Kiss, 2021. "An Integrative Review of Socio-Technical Factors Influencing Travel Decision-Making and Urban Transport Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-20, September.
    15. Bartzokas-Tsiompras, Alexandros & Bakogiannis, Efthimios & Nikitas, Alexandros, 2023. "Global microscale walkability ratings and rankings: A novel composite indicator for 59 European city centres," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    16. Schmöcker, Jan-Dirk & Quddus, Mohammed A. & Noland, Robert B. & Bell, Michael G.H., 2008. "Mode choice of older and disabled people: a case study of shopping trips in London," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 257-267.
    17. Xuefeng Li & Yong Zhang & Mingyang Du, 2018. "Analysis of Travel Decision-Making for Urban Elderly Healthcare Activities under Temporal and Spatial Constraints," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-15, May.
    18. Steffen Andreas Schüle & Gabriele Bolte, 2015. "Interactive and Independent Associations between the Socioeconomic and Objective Built Environment on the Neighbourhood Level and Individual Health: A Systematic Review of Multilevel Studies," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(4), pages 1-31, April.
    19. Yang, Yongjiang & Sasaki, Kuniaki & Cheng, Long & Tao, Sui, 2022. "Does the built environment matter for active travel among older adults: Insights from Chiba City, Japan," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    20. Mahbubur Meenar & Bradley Flamm & Kevin Keenan, 2019. "Mapping the Emotional Experience of Travel to Understand Cycle-Transit User Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-21, August.

    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:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:18:p:7360-:d:410480. 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.