The impact of urban park accessibility in cold regions on leisure-time physical activity levels of older adults during the winter

Abstract

Given the situation of public health and population aging, studying the impact of park accessibility on the level of leisure-time physical activity of older adults (60 years and older) in cold regions is of great significance. Public parks in Harbin, China are often frequented by older adults. Furthermore, insufficient activity levels have an impact on health. This study mainly analyzed the accessibility of six parks and quantified the activity profile of older adults in winter. We obtained data through a field investigation on the activity levels of older adults, analyzed the accessibility of parks using the ARCGIS spatial analysis tool and network analysis, and studied the relationship between accessibility and levels of physical leisure activities of older adults with the Pearson correlation coefficient. The results indicated that: 1) The distribution of parks across the region was unbalanced, and overall accessibility via walking was poor; 2) In winter, the proportion of medium- and high-level leisure-time physical activities was 91.3%, and the walking travel rate was 80.65%. Walking was the main travel mode of older adults; 3) Five minutes of walking promoted the occurrence of high-level leisure-time physical activity (with a correlation coefficient 0.244 *). There was no significant relationship between motor vehicles (buses) and high-level activity. Walking had an effect on the level of leisure-time physical activity of older adults. Improving walking accessibility could improve the leisure-time activity levels of older adults in winter. According to the research results, we propose measures to improve walking accessibility to increase leisure-time activity levels in older adults.