How the Built Environment Promotes Residents’ Physical Activity: The Importance of a Holistic People-Centered Perspective

Yufang Zhang, Terry van Dijk and Cor Wagenaar
Additional contact information
Yufang Zhang: Department of History of Architecture and Urbanism & Expertise Centre Architecture, Urbanism and Health, Faculty of Arts, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 716, 9700 AS Groningen, The Netherlands
Terry van Dijk: Department of Spatial Planning & Environment, Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
Cor Wagenaar: Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, P.O. Box 5, 2600 AA Delft, The Netherlands

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 9, 1-19

Abstract: Promoting adequate physical activity (PA) such as walking and cycling is essential to cope with the global health challenge of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Much research has been conducted to analyze how the built environment can promote PA, but the results are not consistent. Some scholars found that certain built environments such as green spaces generated positive impacts on PA, while some other studies showed no correlations. We suspected that the built environment should be measured in a deeply holistic nuanced way in order to properly reflect its impact on PA. Therefore, our research adopted an integral urban-analysis comparing three typical neighborhoods in Beijing, China. Our data show that the highest PA occurs in the neighborhood with the lowest density, amount of green space and street connectivity, apparently compensated by its low-rise housing type and high appreciation of the quality of sidewalks and street safety. This indicates that dimensions impacting PA have to be considered in context, and the peoples’ perception of the built environment matters.

Keywords: built environment; physical activity; urban analysis; walking and cycling; neighborhood design; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/9/5595/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/9/5595/ (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:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:9:p:5595-:d:808597

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

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