Radius Of Home Research Articles

Fruits of the city: The nature, nurture and future of urban foraging

Abstract Urban foraging is a global informal phenomenon which has been investigated in the Global North more than other parts of the world. Characterising the nature of urban foraging in the Global South is imperative given the rapid urbanisation and sustainable development priorities in the region. In this study, we interviewed 80 urban foragers in four cities in the eastern coastal region of South Africa, with an aim to understand the nature of urban foraging in a developing nation context. We asked foragers about their initiation to and motivations for foraging, their logistics, yields and associated activities, descriptions of their foraging grounds, and if and how they had changed, and what they envisage as an ideal future for foraging. Many foragers started foraging in their childhood, in the company of friends and family, and, as in the Global North, regarded it as a cultural and recreational activity. Foraging was mostly done within a 5‐km radius of home, on a weekly or fortnightly basis, and very few foragers processed or sold their foraged products. Unlike the Global North, formal green spaces were not foraged in, and were perceived to be poorly provisioned in urban planning. Forests and roadsides were equally used by the foragers, and very few had been discouraged from foraging. Most foragers were enthusiastic about the possibility of more people foraging, having designated spaces for foraging, and foraging‐based businesses such as processed products and ecotourism. We recommend that policymakers and land managers recognise and encourage foraging as a potentially sustainable use for stewardship of urban green spaces. To this end, we list the main wild edible fruit species used by foragers in the area, which could be planted in public spaces. We also suggest harnessing foragers' knowledge of useful species and spaces to develop green spaces and foraging‐based supply chains. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

What does ‘buying local’ mean to wine consumers?

ABSTRACT This study sought to understand what buying ‘local’ means to Ontario wine consumers and determine how local wine purchase behaviour varies with select demographic and environmental belief factors. Few studies concerning the perception of and reasons for purchasing local wine have been conducted, and none in the context of Ontario wine consumers. An online survey of Ontario wine consumers (N = 521) was carried out and results showed that perceptions of localness differed between food products (‘coming from within a 100 km radius of home’) and wine (‘coming from anyway in North America and Canada’). The most important motivational factors reported for purchasing local wine were directly linked to economic and hedonic factors, specifically; ‘support local vineyards and wineries’, ‘build the local economy’ and ‘taste and flavour’. High frequency purchasers of local wines also bought local foods more often and were more likely to seek information about the origin of their food than were lower frequency purchasers. A pro-ecological worldview is associated with higher purchasing frequency of Ontario wine. These results can assist Ontario wineries with respect to market segmentation and development of campaigns focused on local wine.

Preventing Cardiovascular Disease Among Urban African Americans With a Mobile Health App (the MOYO App): Protocol for a Usability Study.

BackgroundCardiovascular disease (CVD) disparities are a particularly devastating manifestation of health inequity. Despite advancements in prevention and treatment, CVD is still the leading cause of death in the United States. Additionally, research indicates that African American (AA) and other ethnic-minority populations are affected by CVD at earlier ages than white Americans. Given that AAs are the fastest-growing population of smartphone owners and users, mobile health (mHealth) technologies offer the unparalleled potential to prevent or improve self-management of chronic disease among this population.ObjectiveTo address the unmet need for culturally tailored primordial prevention CVD–focused mHealth interventions, the MOYO app was cocreated with the involvement of young people from this priority community. The overall project aims to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of a novel smartphone app designed to reduce CVD risk factors among urban-AAs, 18-29 years of age.MethodsThe theoretical underpinning will combine the principles of community-based participatory research and the agile software development framework. The primary outcome goals of the study will be to determine the usability, acceptability, and functionality of the MOYO app, and to build a cloud-based data collection infrastructure suitable for digital epidemiology in a disparity population. Changes in health-related parameters over a 24-week period as determined by both passive (eg, physical activity levels, sleep duration, social networking) and active (eg, use of mood measures, surveys, uploading pictures of meals and blood pressure readings) measures will be the secondary outcome. Participants will be recruited from a majority AA “large city” school district, 2 historically black colleges or universities, and 1 urban undergraduate college. Following baseline screening for inclusion (administered in person), participants will receive the beta version of the MOYO app. Participants will be monitored during a 24-week pilot period. Analyses of varying data including social network dynamics, standard metrics of activity, percentage of time away from a given radius of home, circadian rhythm metrics, and proxies for sleep will be performed. Together with external variables (eg, weather, pollution, and socioeconomic indicators such as food access), these metrics will be used to train machine-learning frameworks to regress them on the self-reported quality of life indicators.ResultsThis 5-year study (2015-2020) is currently in the implementation phase. We believe that MOYO can build upon findings of classical epidemiology and longitudinal studies like the Jackson Heart Study by adding greater granularity to our knowledge of the exposures and behaviors that affect health and disease, and creating a channel for outreach capable of launching interventions, clinical trials, and enhancements of health literacy.ConclusionsThe results of this pilot will provide valuable information about community cocreation of mHealth programs, efficacious design features, and essential infrastructure for digital epidemiology among young AA adults.International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)DERR1-10.2196/16699

The association between objective measures of residence and worksite neighborhood environment, and self-reported leisure-time physical activities: The Aichi Workers' Cohort Study

The possible effects of a neighborhood's built environment on physical activity have not been studied in Asian countries as much as in Western countries. The present study cross-sectionally examined the relationship between geographic information system (GIS) measured residence and worksite neighborhood walkability, and the number of parks/green spaces and sports facilities within a 1 km radius of home and workplace, with self-reported leisure-time habitual (3–4 times per week or more) walking and moderate-to-vigorous intensity habitual exercise among local government workers aged 18 to 64 years living in an urban-suburban area of Aichi, Japan in 2013. A single-level binomial regression model was used to estimate the multivariable odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). Of the 1959 male and 884 female participants, 288 (15%) and 141 (16%) reported habitual walking, respectively, and 18% and 17% reported habitual exercise, respectively. Compared with women who resided in neighborhood with a walkability index of 4–30, those living in an area with that of 35–40 were significantly more likely to engage in leisure-time habitual exercise (multivariable OR: 1.70, 95% CI: 1.08–2.68). Marginally significant positive associations were found between leisure-time habitual exercise and the residential neighborhood's number of parks/green spaces among women, as well as the number of sports facilities among men. In conclusion, a residential neighborhood environment characterized by higher walkability may contribute to the initiation or maintenance of moderate-to-vigorous intensity leisure-time exercise among working women living in an urban-suburban area of Japan.

Assessing urban connectivity using volunteered mobile phone GPS locations

The mode, timing and frequency of travel by residents of urban neighbourhoods is affected by sociodemographic and environmental factors. Among these, the layout and connectivity of the street network is amenable to design by urban planners and developers. Here we focus on street connectivity as a variable influencing mobility in cities by examining GPS-enabled mobile phone location data volunteered by a group of 127 university students (234,709 h of behavioural observation over a six-year period). We used a Bayesian beta regression framework to model the proportion of time spent inactive, walking and travelling at vehicle speeds, relative to street connectivity and other environmental attributes measured within a radius of home. Results indicated that lower street connectivity, measured using a simple measure we call network warp, is associated with more time spent inactive and more time travelling at vehicle speeds by students. The proportion of time spent walking was higher in areas with more street connectivity, and for student homes that were closer to campus. Our study confirms the importance of street connectivity as a factor influencing the walkability of neighborhoods and the selection of passive forms of transport, and builds on earlier studies of this relationship by incorporating longitudinal data with high spatial and temporal resolution. We conclude that crowdsourcing data that is recorded automatically by GPS-enabled mobile phones can provide an accessible and flexible evidence base to support the design of urban areas.

Social Ecological Model (SEM) and Childhood Obesity: What Do the Data Suggest?

The SEM is often used to describe the complex etiology of childhood obesity. Variables included in proximal layers of the SEM (age, gender, parent characteristics) influence weight outcomes in youth. Roles of distal factors such as food and physical activity (PA) environments are less clear. This study examines relationships of different layers of the SEM on child weight outcomes. Data on demographics and parental perceptions and children's use of PA and food outlets were collected from parents of 1400 children. Location of child's home and neighborhood food and PA outlets were geocoded. Multivariate analyses tested independent and joint significance of variables in different layers of the SEM. In fully adjusted models with all layers of SEM, as a group, variables in proximal layers were significantly associated with child's weight. Collectively, variables representing the built environment, those representing perception of built environments, and those assessing use of these environments were not significant. Individually, several measures of the built environment such as presence of a convenience store within a quarter mile radius of home (OR=2.16, CI: 1.12–4.16), presence of a park within a half mile radius of home (OR=0.41, CI: 0.18 – 0.94), and use of the main store to purchase fruits and vegetables (OR= 0.48, CI: 0.27–0.85) were significantly associated with child's weight outcomes.