Building communities to promote physical activity: a multi‐scale geographical analysis

Abstract

Vojnovic, I., 2006: Building communities to promote physical activity: A multi-scale geographical analysis. Geogr. Ann., 88 B (1): 67-90.ABSTRACT. The objective of this paper is to make explicit the linkages between specific characteristics in the urban built environment, moderate physical activity (in particular walking and cycling), and public health. The review will take place at three different scales -the region, the city and the city-block. At all three scales, the main interest is placed on accessibility, with the recognition that if distances are short enough and there is high connectivity within neighbourhoods, people might be encouraged to walk or cycle. The paper will draw on urban built environment characteristics from a number of Michigan municipalities, including Detroit, Ann Arbor, Birmingham, East Lansing and Okemos.

Urban–Rural Differences in Physical Activity in Belgian Adults and the Importance of Psychosocial Factors

“…Moreover, because of the lower residential density in rural environments, parcel sizes are larger in rural neighborhoods than in urban neighborhoods. 38 Consequently, rural residents probably have more responsibilities involving household-related PA. Nevertheless, the differences in step counts between urban and rural residents were significant, so physical environmental characteristics are associated with overall PA. Because cycling, swimming, and other static activities reported in the activity log were added to the end-of-day total number of steps recorded by the pedometer, the found differences in step counts between neighborhoods could also be partly explained by differences in these behaviors.…”

A dynamic framework on travel mode choice focusing on utilitarian walking based on the integration of current knowledge

“…Evidence shows that utilitarian walking is associated with individual characteristics, such as age, sex, socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, auto ownership, and psychological properties including attitude and habits 4,5 , and built and social environmental characteristics, such as the land-use density, land-use mix, street connectivity, street design, aesthetics, traffic safety, level of violence, social support, social network, social cohesion, and social norm 6–9 . Simultaneously, a number of conceptual frameworks have been proposed that focus on physical activity in general 7,10 , active travel including walking and bicycling 11,12 , or more specifically on children’s travel to school 13,14 .…”

The Burdens of Place: A Socio-economic and Ethnic/Racial Exploration into Urban Form, Accessibility and Travel Behaviour in the Lansing Capital Region, Michigan

“…As noted at the beginning of the article, it has been recognized by many urban researchers and government agencies that issues of public health and marginalized populations have been an under-represented aspect of planning and urban design (USDHHS, 2000;Day, 2003Day, , 2006Vojnovic, 2006;Vojnovic et al, 2006). In fact, it can be argued more broadly that while the consideration of the poor and minorities was a critical aspect of urban research and interest during the 1960s and 1970s, the focus on marginalized populations began to diminish in the urban discourse from the 1980s and into the present (Slater, 2006;Podagrosi & Vojnovic, 2008).…”

“…Spatially, these populations were segregated in the urban core of many US cities. In addition, unlike the literature that focused on the critique of automobile-oriented suburbs, the study of disadvantaged populations within urban cores and associated concerns with travel behaviour, physical activity and obesity was recognized as being underrepresented in research on community planning and design (USDHHS, 2000;Day, 2003Day, , 2006Vojnovic, 2006). Previous research has not explicitly examined how urban disinvestment might affect the urban built environment, access to amenities and pedestrian activity in poor, inner-city neighbourhoods.…”