How much is enough? Assessing the influence of neighborhood walkability on undertaking 10-minute walks

Abstract

Abstract:Neighborhood walkability is increasingly perceived as an effective way to support individuals' health, since living in a walkable environment is associated with increases in utilitarian walking. Yet, while people are more likely to walk in more walkable neighborhoods, increased walkability can also lead to walking shorter distances, thus mitigating the positive health outcomes associated with walkable environments. Given that the World Health Organization recommends physical activity to be performed in sessions of at least 10 minutes, the aim of this research is to explore the relationship between neighborhood walkability and individuals' likeliness of walking in sessions of at least 10 minutes. A multilevel logistic regression is generated using data from the Montreal, Canada, 2013 Origin-Destination Survey. The results show that the probability of walking at least 10 minutes for shopping purposes is equally high in the 80-89 and 90-100 Walk Score neighborhoods. In contrast, car ownership is a strong predictor of walking at least 10 minutes, especially in higher Walk Score neighborhoods. These findings suggest that transport policies aimed at reducing car ownership, combined with land use policies, can be most effective in supporting the minimal 10-minute sessions of walking for shopping purposes. This study provides a nuanced assessment of walkability and is of relevance to researchers and planners wishing to assess and develop policies for increasing health benefits through active transportation.

Does Environmental Walkability Matter? The Role of Walkable Environment in Active Commuting

“…In other words, more people can walk and bike in areas with a higher density of public transportation. Third, other individual variables were correlated with active commuting, which is consistent with the results of previous empirical studies [39,80]. Individual factors such as age, gender, income, and car ownership were strongly correlated with active commuting.…”

Levels and Characteristics of Utilitarian Walking in the Central Areas of the Cities of Bologna and Porto

“…The time spent walking mostly comprised between 10 to 20 min (44%) and between 20 to 30 min (28%). These travel times were quite long considering the nature of utilitarian walking trips: they are much longer than the referential 10 and 15 min reported in some travel studies [14,18,37,82] and longer than the walking trips reported in other Southern European countries. For instance, in the Spanish city of Granada, Ferrer and Ruiz [30] described that 80% of walking trips are shorter than 20 min.…”

Neighborhood Walkability and Active Transportation: A Correlation Study in Leisure and Shopping Purposes

“…The Walkability Score is adapted from the Walk Score, which is an index that combines various variables that represent urban form such as density, diversity, and destination accessibility [21,62]. Since the Walk Score itself is a composite index of neighborhood walkability, there are some studies that include only itself as a neighborhood environmental variable [7,63]. However, one study found that there are some urban form elements such as land use diversity and walking route supply that the Walk Score does not include [21].…”