Quality of public open spaces and recreational walking

T. Sugiyama, L.D. Gunn, H. Christian, J. Francis, S. Foster, P. Hooper, N. Owen and B. Giles-Corti

American Journal of Public Health, 2015, vol. 105, issue 12, 2490-2495

Abstract: Objectives. We examined associations between specific public open space (POS) attributes and recreational walking to local POS. Methods. Between October 2004 and December 2006, 1465 adults of the RESIDential Environments Project, conducted in Perth, Australia, reported whether they walk to a POS for recreation. For each participant, we identified all open spaces larger than 0.8 hectares within 1.6 kilometers from home. On the basis of field audit data, we created 3 scores (presence, count, size-weighted presence) for 19 specific open space attributes. Results. With logistic regression analyses, we found that walking to a POS was associated with the presence of gardens, grassed areas, walking paths, water features, wildlife, amenities, dog-related facilities, and off-leash areas for dogs. It was also associated with the highest number of these attributes in a single open space, but not with the total number of attributes in all POSs within 1.6 kilometers of home. Conclusions. Building 1 high-quality local park may be more effective in promoting recreational walking than is providing many average-quality parks.

Keywords: adult; animal; dog; environmental planning; female; human; male; questionnaire; recreation; standards; statistics and numerical data; urban population; walking; Western Australia, Adult; Animals; Dogs; Environment Design; Female; Humans; Male; Recreation; Surveys and Questionnaires; Urban Population; Walking; Western Australia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.2105/AJPH.2015.302890

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:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2015.302890_2

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2015.302890

Access Statistics for this article

American Journal of Public Health is currently edited by Alfredo Morabia

More articles in American Journal of Public Health from American Public Health Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Christopher F Baum ().