Determining thresholds for spatial urban design and transport features that support walking to create healthy and sustainable cities: findings from the IPEN Adult study

City planning policies to support health and sustainability: an international comparison of policy indicators for 25 cities

“…Chennai's (India) target 58 of at least 80 intersections per km² fell short of the 100 intersections per km² threshold to optimise walking outcomes, identified in the second paper in this Series by Cerin and colleagues. 59 Melbourne had connectivity targets for street block sizes and Graz for footpath grid sizes. Most studied cities (76%) had minimum requirements for access to public open space (figure 1).…”

Using open data and open-source software to develop spatial indicators of urban design and transport features for achieving healthy and sustainable cities

“…Then we demonstrate the feasibility and utility of our approach by creating a cross-sectional snapshot of priority indicators recommended in the first Lancet Series on Urban Design, Transport and Health, showing between-city comparisons, and mapping within-city spatial inequities. 20 We link these to the local policy contexts identified by Lowe et al 21 and identify populations living above and below the critical thresholds identified by Cerin et al 22 We discuss the practical value of this tool and empirical findings for policymaking. The article concludes with a call for action: to build healthy and sustainable cities, we must measure city-building better and we must build healthy and sustainable cities for all-not just for some-by reducing within-city inequities.…”

“…These urban neighbourhoods were the spatial units used to characterise the within-and between-city distribution of indicators 1) in absolute terms relative to the city (within-city estimates), and 2) relative to all cities via zscores (between-city estimates). We conducted a spatial analysis of population and intersection density indicators for two physical activity scenarios identified by Cerin et al 22 Scenario A meets the threshold for 80% probability of walking for transport and Scenario B meets the threshold for reaching WHO's target of a ≥15% relative reduction in insufficient physical activity through walking.…”

“…Scenario B: meeting threshold for reaching the WHO's target of a ≥15% relative reduction in insufficient physical activity through walking 3.2. Percentage of population meeting thresholds for urban design and transport features to support active lifestyles Cerin et al 22 identified thresholds to support active lifestyles and achieve WHO physical activity targets. On average, less than half of the population (49%) in high-income countries' cities lived in neighbourhoods reaching the population density thresholds for 80% probability of walking for transport or meeting WHO's target for reducing insufficient physical activity through walking (38%), compared with 98% of middle-income countries' cities.…”

“…"Using Open Data and Open-Source Software to Develop Spatial Indicators of Urban Design and Transport Features for Achieving Healthy and Sustainable Cities." The Lancet Global Health 10 (6), 907-918. doi:10.1016/S2214-109X (22)00072-9…”