Assessing the influence of the built environment on physical activity for utility and recreation in suburban metro Vancouver
Date
2011-12-30
Authors
Oliver, Lisa
Schuurman, Nadine
Hall, Alexander
Hayes, Michael
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BioMed Central
Abstract
Background: Physical inactivity and associated co-morbidities such as obesity and cardiovascular disease are
estimated to have large societal costs. There is increasing interest in examining the role of the built environment in
shaping patterns of physical activity. However, few studies have: (1) simultaneously examined physical activity for
leisure and utility; (2) selected study areas with a range of built environment characteristics; and (3) assessed the
built environment using high-resolution land use data.
Methods: Data on individuals used for this study are from a survey of 1602 adults in selected sites across
suburban Metro Vancouver. Four types of physical activity were assessed: walking to work/school, walking for
errands, walking for leisure and moderate physical activity for exercise. The built environment was assessed by
constructing one-kilometre road network buffers around each respondent’s postal code. Measures of the built
environment include terciles of recreational and park land, residential land, institutional land, commercial land and
land use mix.
Results: Logistic regression analyses showed that walking to work/school and moderate physical activity were not
associated with any built environment measure. Living in areas with lower land use mix, lower commercial and
lower recreational land increased the odds of low levels of walking for errands. Individuals living in the lower third
of land use mix and institutional land were more likely to report low levels of walking for leisure.
Conclusions: These results suggest that walking for errands and leisure have a greater association with the built
environment than other dimensions of physical activity.
Description
BioMed Central
Keywords
Citation
Oliver et al.: Assessing the influence of the built environment on physical activity for utility and recreation in suburban metro Vancouver. BMC Public Health 2011 11:959.