Evidence Of Co-benefits Of Designing Communities For Active Living

Abstract

Reported Relationships: J.F. Sallis:Royalty; SPARK Programs of School Specialty Inc. Intellectual Property; SPARK Programs of School Specialty Inc. Contracted Research - Including Principle Investigator; Nike, Inc. Ownership Interest; Santech Inc. PURPOSE: Creating “activity-friendly environments” is a recommended strategy to increase physical activity, but the potential co-benefits are unclear. Purpose is to explore a wide range of literature to understand the co-benefits of activity-friendly environments. METHODS: An extensive but non-systematic search of scientific and “gray” literature was conducted. Five physical activity settings were defined: parks/trails, urban design, transportation, schools, and workplaces/buildings. Several evidence-based activity-friendly features were identified for each setting. Six potential co-benefits were searched: physical health, mental health, social health, safety/injury prevention, environmental sustainability, and economics. Over 200 sources were located, and 418 higher-quality findings were summarized with semi-quantitative scores based on direction of associations and quality of the source. RESULTS: When findings were summarized for each setting, 22 of 30 setting by outcome combinations showed “strong” evidence of co-benefits. Each setting had strong evidence of at least three co-benefits, with only one occurrence of a net negative effect. All settings showed the potential to be designed so they would contribute to environmental sustainability and economic benefits. Parks/trails had strong evidence for all 6 co-benefits, and urban planning had strong evidence for 5 co-benefits. CONCLUSION: The exploration of literature revealed substantial evidence that designing environments that make physical activity attractive and convenient is likely to produce multiple important benefits beyond physical activity.