Research on the Difference Between Recreational Walking and Transport Walking Among the Elderly in Mega Cities With Different Density Zones: The Case of Guangzhou City

Walking is the easiest method of physical activity for older people, and current research has demonstrated that the built environment is differently associated with recreational and transport walking. This study modelled the environmental characteristics of three different building density zones in Guangzhou city at low, medium, and high densities, and examined the differences in walking among older people in the three zones. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) was used to investigate the recreational and transport walking time of older people aged 65 years and above for the past week, for a total of three density zones (N = 597) and was analysed as a dependent variable. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) was used to identify 300, 500, 800, and 1,000 m buffers and to assess differences between recreational and transport walking in terms of the built environment [e.g., land-use mix, street connectivity, Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data]. The data were processed and validated using the SPSS software to calculate Pearson's correlation models and stepwise regression models between recreation and transit walking and the built environment. The results found that land use mix and NDVI were positively correlated with transport walking in low-density areas and that transport walking was negatively correlated with roadway mediated centrality (BtE) and Point-of-Interest (PoI) density. Moreover, recreational walking in medium density areas was negatively correlated with self-rated health, road intersection density, and PoI density while positively correlated with educational attainment, population density, land use mix, street connectivity, PoIs density, and NDVI. Transport walking was negatively correlated with land-use mix, number of road crossings while positively correlated with commercial PoI density. Street connectivity, road intersection density, DNVI, and recreational walking in high-density areas showed negative correlations. Moreover, the built environment of older people in Guangzhou differed between recreational and transport walking at different densities. The richness of PoIs has different effects on different types of walking.

The Association Between Geographic Information System-Based Neighborhood Built Environmental Factors and Accelerometer-Derived Light-Intensity Physical Activity Across the Lifespan: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background. Evidence on correlates of accelerometer-derived light-intensity physical activity (LPA) is scarce. The aim of this study was to examine associations between Geographic Information System (GIS)-based neighborhood built environmental factors and accelerometer-derived LPA, and to investigate the moderating effect of age group (adolescents, adults, older adults) on these associations. Methods. Objective data were used from three similar observational studies conducted in Ghent (Belgium) between 2007 and 2015. Accelerometer data were collected from 1652 participants, and GIS-based neighborhood built environmental factors (residential density, intersection density, park density, public transport density, entropy index) were calculated using sausage buffers of 500 m and 1000 m around the home addresses of all participants. Linear mixed models were performed to estimate the associations. Results. A small but significant association was observed between residential density (500 m buffer) and LPA in the total sample (B=-0.002; SE=0.0001; p=0.04), demonstrating that every decrease of 1000 dwellings per surface buffer was associated with a two minute increase in LPA. Intersection density, park density, public transport density and entropy index were not related to LPA, and moderating effects of age group were absent. Conclusions. The small association, in combination with other non-significant associations suggests that the neighborhood built environment, as classically measured in moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity research, is of limited importance for LPA. More research is needed to unravel how accelerometer-derived LPA is accumulated, and to gain insight into its determinants.

Nonlinear Associations of the Built Environment with Cycling Frequency among Older Adults in Zhongshan, China

The health and welfare of older adults have raised increasing attention due to global aging. Cycling is a physical activity and mode of transportation to enhance the mobility and quality of life among older adults. Nevertheless, the planning strategies to promote cycling among older adults are underutilized. Therefore, this paper describes the nonlinear associations of the built environment with cycling frequency among older adults. The data were collected from the Zhongshan Household Travel Survey (ZHTS) in 2012. The modeling approach was the eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) model. The findings demonstrated that nonlinear relationships exist among all the selected built environment attributes. Within specific intervals, the population density, the land-use mixture, the distance from home to the nearest bus stop, and the distance from home to CBD are positively correlated to the cycling among older adults. Additionally, an inverse “U”-shaped relationship appears in the percentage of green space land use among all land uses. Moreover, the intersection density is inversely related to the cycling frequency among older adults. These findings provide nuanced and appropriate guidance for establishing age-friendly neighborhoods.

317Neighbourhood built and social environmental attributes associated with frailty among mid-to-older aged Australian adults

Background Little is known about to what extent neighbourhood built and social environmental factors are associated with frailty among community-dwelling mid-to-older aged adults. Methods Participants of our cross-sectional study were adults aged 50-74 years residing in Brisbane, Australia. Frailty was assessed by a frailty index (FI), consisting of 32 items. Five built environmental attributes (population density, density of 4-way intersections, area of retail land, area of park land, and area of land for recreational facilities) and three social environmental attributes (safety, cohesion, and socio-economic status [SES]) were included. We performed multilevel logistic regression analysis to examine the associations between those attributes and frailty. Results Of 4,176 eligible participants (56.8% women), we found that 437 (10.5%) were frail (FI ≥ 0.35). After adjusting for potential confounders, one standard deviation (SD) increment in intersection density and retail land area was associated 26% (95%CI: 1.12, 1.41) and 18% (95%CI: 1.07, 1.30) higher odds of being frail, respectively. One SD increment in safety and area-level SES was associated with 24% (95%CI: 0.69, 0.84) and 30% (95%CI: 0.62, 0.79) lower odds of being frail. Conclusions This study found that mid-to-older aged adults with frailty are more likely to live in areas with higher intersection density, greater area of retail land, poorer safety, and higher levels of deprivation. Key messages There is spatial heterogeneity in the distribution of frailty. Future research should investigate behavioural mechanism for the distribution.

More dense but less walkable: the impact of macroscale walkability indicators on recent designs of emirati neighborhoods

With the aim to enhance sustainability in general including walkability, the recent urban forms of the designs of the Emirati neighborhoods have been denser and more compact, if compared with the older design models. While there are various guidelines and regulations related to the microscale walkability measures for the urban design of neighborhoods in the Emirates but unfortunately the macroscale walkability measures have not received similar attention. So, to investigate how would these denser and more compact recent neighborhoods designs better perform regarding walkability macroscale measures, the research utilized the urban modelling interface (UMI) walkability simulation tool to calculate the UMI Walkscores of these designs because it considers almost all macroscale factors including both urban morphology and urban planning measures and it also allows for the customization of the types, required catchment distances, and weights of the significance of locally provided amenities. The UMI Walkscores were calculated for the six recent denser and more compact neighborhoods designs and were compared with the UMI Walkscore for a conventionally designed model of urban sprawling neighborhoods. Unexpectedly, it has been found out that urban compactness per se is not a sufficient design measure for enhancing walkability in local neighborhood designs, where much higher compactness and density have achieved disappointing UMI Walkscores. So, it seems that for the recent neighborhoods’ designs, little attention was paid to the impact of the street network connectivity measures of Intersection Density, Block Length and the link-to-nodes ratio, on UMI Walkscores, if compared with the main attention paid to increasing FAR through decreasing plot sizes. Meanwhile, the explicit macroscale urban planning measures including the land-use factors of the types, numbers, and the location of amenities, as well as the implicit factors of their destination and global weights seem to be more influential in enhancing the UMI Walkscores but have been less considered when planning these neighborhoods. So, besides considering well-known macroscale urban morphology aspects of street network connectivity and locational distribution of provided amenities, boosting walkability macroscale measures on the design level requires adopting a set of adequately customized measures including the appropriate values of their global and distribution weights. These walkability design weights should be also resilient and continuously reviewed to satisfy the changing needs of the local communities. Based on its findings, the research proposed a five-actions plan to help boost walkability macroscale measures in the design of local urban communities in the UAE.

Using Exploratory Spatial Analysis to Understand the Patterns of Adolescents’ Active Transport to School and Contributory Factors

Active transport to school (ATS) is a convenient way for adolescents to reach their recommended daily physical activity levels. Most previous ATS research examined the factors that promote or hinder ATS, but this research has been of a global (i.e., non-spatial), statistical nature. Geographical Information Science (GIS) is widely applied in analysing human activities, focusing on local spatial phenomena, such as distribution, autocorrelation, and co-association. This study, therefore, applied exploratory spatial analysis methods to ATS and its factors. Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) was used to derive maps of transport mode and ATS factor distribution patterns. The results of KDE were compared to and verified by Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA) outputs. The data used in this study was collected from 12 high schools, including 425 adolescents who lived within walkable distance and used ATS or MTS in Dunedin New Zealand. This study identified clusters and spatial autocorrelation, confirming that the adolescents living in the south of the city, who were female, attended girls-only schools, lived in more deprived neighbourhoods, and lived in neighbourhoods with higher intersection density and residential density used more ATS. On the other hand, adolescents who were male, attended boys-only schools, lived in less deprived neighbourhoods, had more vehicles at home, and lived in neighbourhoods with medium level intersection density and residential density used more ATS in the northwest of the city as well as some part of the city centre and southeast of the city. The co-association between spatial patterns of the ATS factors and the ATS usages that this study detected adds to the evidence for autocorrelation underpinning ATS users across the study area.

Analysis and Interpretation of Lineaments for Evaluation of Groundwater Potential in Shendam and Environs, North Central Nigeria

This study was done to evaluate the groundwater potentials of Shendam and environs using lineaments analysis. The trends of field joints were measured during mapping and using satellite remote sensing to generate lineament. The area is underlain by crystalline basement rocks of biotite granite, medium grain granite, and syenite. Assessment was carried out to depict the possibility of groundwater occurrence in the area. LANDSAT ETM+ imagery was used, together with the geological map to investigate areas favorable for groundwater development. This was achieved by plotting the lineament trends, superimposing the lineament on the geological map, superimposing the lineament on the drainage map, furthermore by plotting density map to know the groundwater potentials of the area. Lineament was used in drawing the respective rose diagrams for each rock type. Structurally, the area is characterized by a predominant NE to SW trend which also affects or controls drainage and groundwater occurrence with major groundwater recharge areas trending NE- SW of the study area. Analyses have shown that the study area has numerous fractures whose major trends are mainly in NE-SW directions. Lineament density maps shows the cross-cutting lineaments to be relatively high in the areas around the northeastern to southwestern parts of the study area but low in the other areas. Zones of high lineament intersection density are feasible zones for groundwater prospecting.

Neighborhood environmental attributes and walking mobility decline: A longitudinal ecological study of mid-to-older aged Australian adults

Objectives Cross-sectional studies have found some built environmental attributes to be associated with residents’ lower levels of mobility (functional capacity to walk outside the home). However, less is known about what environmental attributes are related to mobility decline. This longitudinal study examined area-level associations of specific environmental attributes with mid-to-older aged adults’ changes in walking mobility. Methods Data collected from 4,088 adults (aged 46–71 years at baseline) who participated in a cohort study in Brisbane, Australia were used. The outcome was the change in self-reported mobility score (SF-36) from 2013 to 2016, which were aggregated at the neighborhood (N = 156) and suburb (N = 99) levels, due to the known lack of sensitivity in SF-36 subscales to individual changes. Linear regression analysis examined associations of mobility change with seven environmental attributes measured at baseline (residential density, intersection density, land use mix, density of walking/bike paths, park density, bus stop density, density of social incivilities), adjusting for confounding variables. Results Participants on average reported 4% of mobility decline during the 3-year study period. It was found that greater land use diversity was consistently associated with less decline in walking mobility, while greater density of social incivilities was associated with more decline in walking mobility. The latter finding was significant only at the neighborhood level. No consistent associations were observed for residential density, intersection density, density of walking/bike paths, park density, and bus stop density. Discussion Our findings suggest that mid-to-older aged adults who live in areas with lower land use diversity and more social incivilities may be at risk of developing mobility limitations. Recommended policies to slow residents’ mobility decline and to achieve aging in place include improving these environmental attributes where needed and advising older adults to relocate to safer, mixed-use neighborhoods.

The Relationship between Physical Activity and the Objectively-Measured Built Environment in Low- and High-Income South African Communities

There is limited data concerning the built environment and physical activity (PA) in a country with a history of sociopolitically motivated, spatial and economic disparities. We explored the extent to which objectively measured attributes of the built environment were associated with self-report or device-measured PA in low- and high-socioeconomic status (SES) communities. Methods: In a convenient sample of residents (n = 52, aged 18–65 years) from four urban suburbs in low- and high-income settings near Cape Town, South Africa, self-reported transport- and leisure-time PA, and device-measured moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) data were collected. Built environment constructs derived from individual-level street network measures (1000 m buffer, ArcGIS, 10.51) were obtained. We assessed PA between four groups, based on income and GIS walkability (derived by a median split, low or high SES and low or high walkable). Results: No relationships between self-reported MVPA and GIS-measured walkability were found. Only intersection density was significantly, inversely associated with moderate and total MVPA (rho = −0.29 and rho = −0.31, respectively, p < 0.05). In the high SES group, vigorous PA was inversely associated with intersection density (rho = −0.39, p < 0.05). Self-report transport PA differed between groups (p < 0.013). Conclusions: Results suggest that the construct of walkability may relate to volitional (leisure) and utilitarian (transport) PA differently, in highly inequitable settings.