Abstract
In the current call for a greater human health and well-being as a sustainable development goal, to encourage active commuting to and from school (ACS) seems to be a key factor. Research focusing on the analysis of the association between environmental factors and ACS in children and adolescents has reported limited and inconclusive evidence, so more knowledge is needed about it. The main aim of this study is to examine the association between different built environmental factors of both school neighbourhood and home-school route with ACS of children and adolescents belonging to urban areas. The ACS level was evaluated using a self-reported questionnaire. Built environment variables (i.e., density of residents, street connectivity and mixed land use) within a school catchment area and home-school route characteristics (i.e., distance and pedestrian route directness—PRD) were measured using a geographic information system (GIS) and examined together with ACS levels. Subsequently, the association between environmental factors and ACS was analysed by binary logistic regression. Several cut-off points of the route measures were explored using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. In addition, the PRD was further studied regarding different thresholds. The results showed that 70.5% of the participants were active and there were significant associations between most environmental factors and ACS. Most participants walked to school when routes were short (distance variable in children: OR = 0.980; p = 0.038; and adolescents: OR = 0.866; p < 0.001) and partially direct (PRD variable in children: OR = 11.334; p < 0.001; and adolescents: OR = 3.513; p < 0.001), the latter specially for children. Mixed land uses (OR = 2.037; p < 0.001) and a high density of street intersections (OR = 1.640; p < 0.001) clearly encouraged adolescents walking and slightly discouraged children walking (OR = 0.657, p = 0.010; and OR = 0.692, p = 0.025, respectively). The assessment of ACS together with the environmental factors using GIS separately for children and adolescents can inform future friendly and sustainable communities.
Highlights
Active Commuting to/from School (ACS) is positively related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of Agenda 2030 [6] and it may contribute to both the SDG 3 ‘good health and well-being’, since practicing active commuting improves human health at every age; and the SDG 11 ‘sustainable cities and communities’ considering that active commuting can reduce the pollution in the cities
Participants were excluded from the analyses if they (i) did not complete the questionnaire regarding the number of total active travels to the school (n = 720); (ii) reported commuting to/from school by bike (n = 16); (iii) did not provide or did not write down correctly the information of their family postal address, which would ensure its correct georeferencing and the correct calculation of the home-school distance; and (iv) were lost or null cases (n = 1073)
The main findings of this study reported that there were more active than non-active commuters to/from school
Summary
It is widely recognised that ACS (i.e., non-motorised travel, e.g., walking or cycling) reduces car use, thereby improving health and well-being as suggested by the latest systematic reviews existing in this regard [2,3,4,5]. The authors of these reviews examined many of the studies reporting evidence of the positive impact of ACS on physical activity (n = 90), body weight (n = 90) and cardiovascular health (n = 12). The present study focuses mainly on the relationship between the urban built environment and ACS, providing information about how to develop efficient urban policies that raise ACS levels and improve health and the environment
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