Walkability, Land Use and Physical Activity

Yehua Dennis Wei, Weiye Xiao, Ming Wen and Ran Wei
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Yehua Dennis Wei: Department of Geography, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
Weiye Xiao: Department of Geography, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
Ming Wen: Department of Sociology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
Ran Wei: Department of Geography, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA

Sustainability, 2016, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-16

Abstract: Physical activity (PA) promotes healthy life and contributes to sustainable development. In this paper, we rely on the Utah Household Travel Survey data and analyze the determinants of PA in terms of neighborhood land use, accessibility to transportation, and socio-demographic status in Salt Lake County, Utah, United States using four-component walkability indices at various geographic scales. We find that PA is associated with neighborhood land use and social demographic status, including the compact design of the neighborhood. The results also indicate that land use mix is insignificant, and that current neighborhood design only supports people’s 20-min walk. The spatial lag model reveals significant spatial autocorrelation of PA but the barely improved R 2 validates the dominant effect of neighborhood land use and social demographic status on people’s walking behavior.

Keywords: walkability; land use; physical activity; spatial regression; Salt Lake County (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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