Neighborhood Urban Design and Outdoor Later Life: An Objective Assessment of Out-of-Home Time and Physical Activity Among Older Adults in Barcelona

Akıncı, Zeynep S.; Delclòs‐Alió, Xavier; Vich, Guillem; Miralles‐Guasch, Carme

doi:10.1123/japa.2020-0254

Cited by 14 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 78 publications

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“…The ratio of the usage of variables related with street design was similar for publications focusing on older adults and the general population. Although this category included variables found by previous studies to be specifically essential for older adults' walking, such as sidewalk availability/ width/ material [185], presence of benches [186,187] or restrooms [28] plus many other examples, usage of these variables did not present considerably higher proportions among publications focusing on older adults. The ratio of using greenery-related variables was slightly higher among studies focusing on older adults compared to the general population.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How different are objective operationalizations of walkability for older adults compared to the general population? A systematic review

et al. 2022

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Background Walking is an essential activity for everyone and for older adults in particular, given that it is the most accessible form of physical activity and one of the healthiest transportation modes. Understanding how walkability (the potential of the environment to enable and/or encourage walking) has been objectively measured and analyzed for older adults is critical to create more inclusive, healthy, and sustainable environments and to promote healthy aging. Despite the numerous reviews on physical activity among older adults and its relationship with the built environment, the literature still lacks comparison reviews focusing specifically on objective operationalizations of walkability for older adults vs. the general population. Methods We conducted a systematic review of 146 empirical studies that measured walkability objectively in relation to walking-related outcomes. We compared studies focused on older adults (n = 24) and the general population (n = 122). Content analysis included the characteristics of the study design, walkability measures, spatial extent, and associations found between walkability and walking-related outcomes. Results In both groups of publications, the majority of studies were conducted in the US, Canada, and Europe, and largely in high-income countries. They were mostly published in health-related journals and used cross-sectional designs, operationalized walkability by using indexes, employed self-reported measures for walking-related outcomes, and found positive associations between walkability and walking outcomes. However, we observed some differences among studies focusing on older adults. Compared to studies focusing on the general population, a larger proportion of studies on older adults was conducted in the Middle East and Asia, and they used longitudinal designs, mixed methods to measure walking-related outcomes, variables related with land-use characteristics, safety from traffic and crime, and greenery, and a larger proportion found positive, as well as no associations between walkability and walking-related outcomes. Conclusion Although there is a promising increase in interest in older adults-focused walkability studies in the last decade, there is still a need for more studies focusing on different settings, using wider spatial extents, longitudinal designs, objective or mixed methods to collect outcome data, and specific variables and/or specially created indexes for older adults and for settings.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How different are objective operationalizations of walkability for older adults compared to the general population? A systematic review

et al. 2022

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“…With more than one-fifth of its population being over 65 years old, Barcelona is usually defined as a compact, walkable, and vital city [ 71 – 74 ]. Barcelona’s morphological conditions are representative of other historical Mediterranean cities, combining high population density and land use mix that create walkable environments but also maintaining high car-use levels due to extensive motorization rates along with significant car-dependency in parts of the metropolitan area [ 75 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…3 , left). The 600-m buffer was estimated based on previous studies on older adult mobility [ 71 , 87 , 88 ] and corresponds to approximately 10 min of walking for that age group which has been a walkable distance for the population group. The 20-m buffer corresponds to the average street width in Barcelona [ 79 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of static and dynamic exposures to air pollution, noise, and greenness among seniors living in compact-city environments

et al. 2023

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GPS technology and tracking study designs have gained popularity as a tool to go beyond the limitations of static exposure assessments based on the subject's residence. These dynamic exposure assessment methods offer high potential upside in terms of accuracy but also disadvantages in terms of cost, sample sizes, and types of data generated. Because of that, with our study we aim to understand in which cases researchers need to use GPS-based methods to guarantee the necessary accuracy in exposure assessment. With a sample of 113 seniors living in Barcelona (Spain) we compare their estimated daily exposures to air pollution (PM2.5, PM10, NO2), noise (dB), and greenness (NDVI) using static and dynamic exposure assessment techniques. Results indicate that significant differences between static and dynamic exposure assessments are only present in selected exposures, and would thus suggest that static assessments using the place of residence would provide accurate-enough values across a number of exposures in the case of seniors. Our models for Barcelona’s seniors suggest that dynamic exposure would only be required in the case of exposure to smaller particulate matter (PM2.5) and exposure to noise levels. The study signals to the need to consider both the mobility patterns and the built environment context when deciding between static or dynamic measures of exposure assessment.

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“…The built environment is considered to be particularly relevant to the PA of the elderly [34][35][36]. Studies have shown that the important safeguard for elderly groups to participate in physical activity and guarantee for the elderly to integrate into social life is the built environment [37,38]. The built environment can promote or inhibit the physical activity of the elderly [28,39,40].…”

Section: The Influence Of Built Environment On Physical Activitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Differences in the Correlation between the Built Environment and Walking, Moderate, and Vigorous Physical Activity among the Elderly in Low- and High-Income Areas

Zang

Xian

Qiu

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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Studies have proved that activity and fitness behaviors are closely related to the quality of life and health status of the elderly. However, different intensities of physical activity (PA)—walking, moderate PA, and vigorous PA—have different correlations with the built environment (BE). This study combines the high and low socioeconomic status (SES) of Guangzhou to establish two types of BE models. The physical activity time of 600 elderly people was collected from questionnaires. Through ArcGIS software, 300 m, 500 m, 800 m, and 1000 m buffer zones were identified, and the land use diversity, street design, population density, distance to destination, distance to public transportation—the five Ds of the BE—were measured. SPSS software was adopted to analyze the correlation between the BE and PA. Results: The PA of people living in low-SES areas was more dependent on the BE, whereas the correlation may be limited in high SES areas. Moreover, in low SES areas, walking was negatively correlated with street connectivity; moderate PA was positively correlated with street connectivity and the shortest distance to the subway station, but negatively correlated with the density of entertainment points of interest (POIs). Studying the relevant factors of the environment can propose better strategies to improve the initiative of the elderly to engage in PA.

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Neighborhood Urban Design and Outdoor Later Life: An Objective Assessment of Out-of-Home Time and Physical Activity Among Older Adults in Barcelona

Cited by 14 publications

References 78 publications

How different are objective operationalizations of walkability for older adults compared to the general population? A systematic review

How different are objective operationalizations of walkability for older adults compared to the general population? A systematic review

Comparison of static and dynamic exposures to air pollution, noise, and greenness among seniors living in compact-city environments

Differences in the Correlation between the Built Environment and Walking, Moderate, and Vigorous Physical Activity among the Elderly in Low- and High-Income Areas

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