Linking Urban Planning, Community Environment, and Physical Activity: A Socio-Ecological Approach

Xue Zhang and Mildred E. Warner ()
Additional contact information
Xue Zhang: Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health, Center for Policy Research, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA
Mildred E. Warner: Department of City and Regional Planning, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 4, 1-15

Abstract: Lack of physical activity is a growing concern among public health advocates and urban planners. Our socio-ecological model incorporates urban planning and World Health Organization actions on physical activity to identify key factors related to leisure-time physical activity at the community level. Our 2019 nationwide US survey of 1312 communities enables examination of the influence of individual, community, and policy levels on physical activity. Individual factors—poverty, aging, minority population, and longer commuting time—result in lower physical activity. Community-level factors have both positive and negative effects. Physical activity is lower in rural and suburban communities, but higher in communities with more transportation services, recreation and social activities, and safety. Communities with mixed-use neighborhoods and complete streets also show higher levels of physical activity. At the policy level, zoning and cross-agency collaboration have an indirect effect on physical activity by increasing these community-level factors. This suggests an alternative approach to promoting physical activity. Local governments can promote transportation, recreation and safety, especially in rural and minority communities lacking active-friendly built environments and facing challenges from aging population, poverty, and longer commuting time. This socio-ecological approach can assess multilevel factors related to physical activity in other countries.

Keywords: physical activity; socio-ecological model; urban planning; cross-agency collaboration; community policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/4/2944/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/4/2944/ (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:20:y:2023:i:4:p:2944-:d:1061431

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 ().