Does time spent in the residential neighbourhood moderate the relationship between neighbourhood walkability and transport-related walking? a cross-sectional study from Toronto, Canada

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Abstract

Objectives

Studies have investigated the influence of neighbourhood walkability on residents’ walking behaviour, aiming to increase physical activity and reduce dependence on automobiles. Previous research, however, has not considered how the amount of time spent in the residential neighbourhood may modify this relationship. Our objective was to determine how time spent in the residential neighbourhood affects the relationship between neighbourhood walkability and walking for transport.

Design

Using a cross-sectional sample of 2411 adults, we analysed the association between walkability (an index combining land-use mix, dwelling density and street connectivity) and transport-related walking (controlling for the effects of gender, age, income, self-rated health and regular access to private transport) testing for interactions by time spent in the neighbourhood.

Primary outcome measure

Minutes spent walking for transport per week.

Setting

Toronto, Canada.

Participants

Participants were aged 25 to 65. The survey had a 72% response rate.

Results

After adjusting for potential confounders, the walkability index was weakly associated with walking (1 SD of walkability score is associated with 0.25 more minutes walking/week, p<0.01). Land-use mix was more strongly associated with walking than the walkability index. Time spent at the residential neighbourhood modified the relationship between land-use mix and transport-related walking in a dose-effect manner (p<0.01), those spending 5 hours on average at their residential neighbourhood have 0.2 min/day more walking for each additional land-use mix score and those spending 12 hours have 0.5 min/day more walking for each additional land-use mix score.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest that walkability is associated with increased walking time, but it is modified by time spent in the neighbourhood. Our study underscores the importance of testing ‘time spent in the neighbourhood’ as a modifier of environmental exposures in studies of environmental correlates of walking.

Related collections

Most cited references 15

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Public health benefits of strategies to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions: urban land transport.

James Woodcock, Phil Edwards, Cathryn Tonne … (2009)

We used Comparative Risk Assessment methods to estimate the health effects of alternative urban land transport scenarios for two settings-London, UK, and Delhi, India. For each setting, we compared a business-as-usual 2030 projection (without policies for reduction of greenhouse gases) with alternative scenarios-lower-carbon-emission motor vehicles, increased active travel, and a combination of the two. We developed separate models that linked transport scenarios with physical activity, air pollution, and risk of road traffic injury. In both cities, we noted that reduction in carbon dioxide emissions through an increase in active travel and less use of motor vehicles had larger health benefits per million population (7332 disability-adjusted life-years [DALYs] in London, and 12 516 in Delhi in 1 year) than from the increased use of lower-emission motor vehicles (160 DALYs in London, and 1696 in Delhi). However, combination of active travel and lower-emission motor vehicles would give the largest benefits (7439 DALYs in London, 12 995 in Delhi), notably from a reduction in the number of years of life lost from ischaemic heart disease (10-19% in London, 11-25% in Delhi). Although uncertainties remain, climate change mitigation in transport should benefit public health substantially. Policies to increase the acceptability, appeal, and safety of active urban travel, and discourage travel in private motor vehicles would provide larger health benefits than would policies that focus solely on lower-emission motor vehicles.

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Neighborhood walkability and the walking behavior of Australian adults.

Lorinne duToit, Eva Leslie, Neville Owen … (2007)

The physical attributes of residential neighborhoods, particularly the connectedness of streets and the proximity of destinations, can influence walking behaviors. To provide the evidence for public health advocacy on activity-friendly environments, large-scale studies in different countries are needed. Associations of neighborhood physical environments with adults' walking for transport and walking for recreation must be better understood. Walking for transport and walking for recreation were assessed with a validated survey among 2650 adults recruited from neighborhoods in an Australian city between July 2003 and June 2004, with neighborhoods selected to have either high or low walkability, based on objective measures of connectedness and proximity derived from geographic information systems (GIS) databases. The study design was stratified by area-level socioeconomic status, while analyses controlled for participant age, gender, individual-level socioeconomic status, and reasons for neighborhood self-selection. A strong independent positive association was found between weekly frequency of walking for transport and the objectively derived neighborhood walkability index. Preference for walkable neighborhoods moderated the relationship of walkability with weekly minutes, but not the frequency of walking for transport--walkability was related to higher frequency of transport walking, irrespective of neighborhood self-selection. There were no significant associations between environmental factors and walking for recreation. Associations of neighborhood walkability attributes with walking for transport were confirmed in Australia. They accounted for a modest but statistically significant proportion of the total variation of the relevant walking behavior. The physical environment attributes that make up the walkability index are potentially important candidate factors for future environmental and policy initiatives designed to increase physical activity.

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It's about time: a comparison of Canadian and American time-activity patterns.

Richard Burnett, Christopher P. Nelson, M Raizenne … (2002)

This study compares two North American time-activity data bases: the National Human Activity Pattern Survey (NHAPS) of 9386 interviewees in 1992-1994 in the continental USA with the Canadian Human Activity Pattern Survey (CHAPS) of 2381 interviewees in 1996-1997 in four major Canadian cities. Identical surveys and methodology were used to collect this data: random sample telephone selection within the identified telephone exchanges, computer-assisted telephone interviews, overselection of children and weekends in the 24-h recall diary and the same interviewers. Very similar response rates were obtained: 63% (NHAPS) and 64.5% (CHAPS). Results of comparisons by age within major activity and location groups suggest activity and location patterns are very similar (most differences being less than 1% or 14 min in a 24-h day) with the exception of seasonal differences. Canadians spend less time outdoors in winter and less time indoors in summer than their U.S. counterparts. When exposure assessments use time of year or outdoor/indoor exposure gradients, these differences may result in significant differences in exposure assessments. Otherwise, the 24-h time activity patterns of North Americans are remarkably similar and use of the combined data set for some exposure assessments may be feasible.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): BMJ Open

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): BMJ Open

Journal ID (hwp): bmjopen

Journal ID (publisher-id): bmjopen

Title: BMJ Open

Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group (BMA House, Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9JR )

ISSN (Electronic): 2044-6055

Publication date Collection: 2019

Publication date (Electronic): 3 April 2019

Volume: 9

Issue: 4

Electronic Location Identifier: e023598

Affiliations

[1 ] departmentDepartment of Health Sciences , Brock University , Saint Catharines, Ontario, Canada

[2 ] St. Michael’s Hospital , Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Author notes

[Correspondence to ] Dr Antony Chum; antony.chum@ 123456gmail.com

Author information

Antony Chum http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6756-7031

Article

Publisher ID: bmjopen-2018-023598

DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-023598

PMC ID: 6500339

PubMed ID: 30948565

SO-VID: bbc3e937-8d80-443c-b20b-329f5b90ff67

License:

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

History

Date received : 23 April 2018

Date revision received : 03 January 2019

Date accepted : 01 February 2019

Funding

Funded by: FundRef http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000024, Canadian Institutes of Health Research;

Funded by: FundRef http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000155, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada;

Custom metadata

special-feature unlocked

ScienceOpen disciplines: Medicine

Keywords: walkability,land-use,active transportation,time use,urban planning

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