Associations between the streetscape built environment and walking to school among primary schoolchildren in Beijing, China

Abstract

Active travel to school is considered one of the channels for improving schoolchildren's daily physical activity level. The built environment is increasingly recognized as a factor likely to influence travel behavior. However, previous studies have primarily captured the macro-level built environment, usually assumed to be linearly associated with active travel to school. Using travel data from Beijing (China) enriched with street view imagery, this study employs generalized additive mixed models to examine non-linear associations between the odds of children's walking to school and streetscape built environmental attributes. Results show that schoolchildren, especially from higher-income families, are more likely to walk to school when they live in neighborhoods with lower street walkability, while higher street enclosure was associated with higher odds of walking for all respondents. A non-linear but overall negative relationship was observed between the odds of walking and street safety facilities. Stratified analyses showed that schoolchildren's household car ownership, educational attainment of parent(s), and household annual income modify the built environment-walking to school association. These findings contribute to a growing evidence base for child-friendly cities promoting active travel.