Different Environments and Physical Activity before and during the COVID-19 Lockdown: Data from Slovenia

Vita Žlender () and Stefano Gemin
Additional contact information
Vita Žlender: Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia (UIRS), Trnovski pristan 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Stefano Gemin: Sportradar AG, Brnčičeva 41g, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 2, 1-21

Abstract: The relationship between physical activity and green spaces has been widely researched, but less so when comparing physical activity in different environments. This study investigates the variations in physical activity across six environments (nature, park, urban, home, sportsground and indoor venue) and how it was influenced by lockdown governed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected from 1161 participants using an online survey conducted in spring 2021 in Slovenia. The results show that 95.5% of respondents are somewhat physically active, mostly in nature and at home. Respondents found natural shade, trees, secure access to and secure use of green spaces most important, recreational routes most encouraging, and bad smells and crowdedness most discouraging for outdoor physical activity. During the lockdown, 80% of people maintained or increased their physical activity. Regression analysis showed significant differences in preference for green space characteristics and levels of physical activity in different environments. Several sociodemographic and living environment characteristics also appeared significant. Our research findings underline the importance of considering a variety of environments when exploring preferences for physical activity. They also provide scientific evidence and justification for recommendations in planning and policy-making to encourage outdoor physical activity.

Keywords: green space characteristics; physical activity; Slovenian population; COVID-19; regression analysis; spatial planning and public health policies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/2/282/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/2/282/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:2:p:282-:d:1040365

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().