Few studies of walkability include both perceived and audited walkability measures. We examined perceived walkability (Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale-Abbreviated, NEWS-A) and audited walkability (Irvine-Minnesota Inventory, IMI) measures for residents living within 2 km of a "complete street"-one renovated with light rail, bike lanes, and sidewalks. For perceived walkability, we fou...

sustainable transportation with the aim of urban sustainable development aims to improve the environmental quality and the socio-economic condition. one of the most important strategies for achieving sustainable transportation is planning and designing for walking, or in other words increasing urban walkability. therefore, increased walkability has become a key issue in urban planning. understa...

BACKGROUND Planning and transport agencies play a vital role in influencing the design of townscapes, travel modes and travel behaviors, which in turn impact on the walkability of neighbourhoods and residents' physical activity opportunities. Optimising neighbourhood walkability is desirable in built environments, however, the population health benefits of walkability may be offset by increased...

BACKGROUND Walkability describes the capacity of the built environment to support walking for various purposes. This paper describes the construction and validation of two objective walkability indexes for Sydney, Australia. METHODS Walkability indexes using residential density, intersection density, land use mix, with and without retail floor area ratio were calculated for 5,858 Sydney Censu...

BACKGROUND Inconsistent associations of neighbourhood walkability with adults' body weight have been reported. Most studies examining the relationships of walkability and adiposity are cross-sectional in design. We examined the longitudinal relationships of two walkability indices - conventional walkability and space syntax walkability, and their individual components, with weight change among ...

Neighborhood walkability can influence physical activity. We evaluated the validity of Walk Score(®) for assessing neighborhood walkability based on GIS (objective) indicators of neighborhood walkability with addresses from four US metropolitan areas with several street network buffer distances (i.e., 400-, 800-, and 1,600-meters). Address data come from the YMCA-Harvard After School Food and F...

BACKGROUND Evidence from developing countries is limited on how income level for a given neighborhood is related to physical activity among its residents. PURPOSE The goal of the study was to examine the association between walkability and physical activity outcomes, and the effect of income on the relationship between walkability and physical activity in adults. METHODS The Spaces for Phys...

Although associations between a person's neighborhood and their health have been studied internationally, most studies have been limited to a few cities or towns. Therefore, we used a nationally representative sample to explore whether perceived and objective neighborhood walkability was associated with the physical activity of residents. Data were analyzed from the Japanese General Social Surv...

BACKGROUND Neighborhood walkability has been shown to be associated with walking behavior. However, the availability of geographical data necessary to construct it remains a limitation. Building on the concept of space syntax, we propose an alternative walkability index, space syntax walkability (SSW). This study examined associations of the full walkability index and SSW with walking for trans...

ISSUE ADDRESSED Growing evidence shows that higher-density, mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly neighbourhoods encourage active transport, including transport-related walking. Despite widespread recognition of the benefits of creating more walkable neighbourhoods, there remains a gap between the rhetoric of the need for walkability and the creation of walkable neighbourhoods. Moreover, there is litt...