The association between sidewalk length and walking for different purposes in established neighborhoods
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RESEARCH
Open Access
The association between sidewalk length and walking for different purposes in established neighborhoods Gavin R McCormack1*, Alan Shiell1, Billie Giles-Corti2, Stephen Begg3, J Lennert Veerman4, Elizabeth Geelhoed5, Anura Amarasinghe5 and JC Herb Emery1
Abstract Background: Walking in neighborhood environments is undertaken for different purposes including for transportation and leisure. We examined whether sidewalk availability was associated with participation in, and minutes of neighborhood-based walking for transportation (NWT) and recreation (NWR) after controlling for neighborhood self-selection. Method: Baseline survey data from respondents (n = 1813) who participated in the RESIDential Environment (RESIDE) project (Perth, Western Australia) were used. Respondents were recruited based on their plans to move to another neighborhood in the following year. Usual weekly neighborhood-based walking, residential preferences, walking attitudes, and demographics were measured. Characteristics of the respondent’s baseline neighborhood were measured including transportation-related walkability and sidewalk length. A Heckman two-stage modeling approach (multivariate Probit regression for walking participation, followed by a sample selection-bias corrected OLS regression for walking minutes) estimated the relative contribution of sidewalk length to NWT and NWR. Results: After adjustment, neighborhood sidewalk length and walkability were positively associated with a 2.97 and 2.16 percentage point increase in the probability of NWT participation, respectively. For each 10 km increase in sidewalk length, NWT increased by 5.38 min/wk and overall neighborhood-based walking increased by 5.26 min/ wk. Neighborhood walkability was not associated with NWT or NWR minutes. Moreover, sidewalk length was not associated with NWR minutes. Conclusions: Sidewalk availability in established neighborhoods may be differentially associated with walking for different purposes. Our findings suggest that large investments in sidewalk construction alone would yield small increases in walking. Keywords: Pedestrian, Urban form, Walkability, Exercise, Sidewalks
Background Participation in physical activity reduces the risk of chronic health conditions including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, hypertension, cancer, and depression [1]. Despite its protective effect many adults do not participate in recommended levels of physical activity (i.e., ≥30 minutes of at least moderate-intensity physical activity on most days) [2]. A combination of * Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr NW, Calgary, AB, Canada T2N1N4 Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
demographic, biological, psychological, social environmental and physical environmental characteristics determine physical activity behavior [3]. Of increasing interest is the role of urban form in supporting and constraining physical activity. Urban sprawl
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