Built environment correlates of walking for recreation or exercise

Abstract

Walking is known as the most common type of physical activity that may be influenced by the built environment, which in turn may affect the health of residents. The current study aimed at investigating the relationship of the built environment to exercise and recreational walking in residential neighborhoods. Five hundred questionnaires were distributed from March to May 2016 in four residential neighborhoods of Bandar Abbas in Iran, out of which 398 questionnaires turned out to be qualified to be used in the study. Furthermore, the number of parks as well as their total area were estimated within a radius of 1500 m from the respondents’ living place. Considering the participants’ gender, the appealing characteristics of built environment were more likely to increase walking activity among females than males. The association between walking patterns and environmental factors was different between male and female residents. In addition, the correlations between walking behavior and some other socio-demographic factors were determined. The present study suggests that urban planners and designers as well as public health promoters need to highly consider the contribution of built environment variables in neighborhoods as well as socio-demographic variables to promote walking behavior changes among the adult population.