Associations between the Neighbourhood Built Environment and Walking

Farkas, Brenlea Jenelle Marie

Associations between the Neighbourhood Built Environment and Walking

dc.contributor.advisor	McCormack, Gavin Robert
dc.contributor.author	Farkas, Brenlea Jenelle Marie
dc.contributor.committeemember	Friedenreich, Christine Marthe
dc.contributor.committeemember	Nettel-Aguirre, Alberto
dc.date	2018-11
dc.date.accessioned	2018-07-26T13:46:18Z
dc.date.available	2018-07-26T13:46:18Z
dc.date.issued	2018-07-11
dc.description.abstract	Physical inactivity is a risk factor for overweight and obesity, type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, depression, and breast/colon cancer. Despite the known benefits of physical activity, many Canadian adults do not achieve the recommended levels of physical activity necessary to obtain optimal health. Evidence suggests that built characteristics within neighbourhoods are associated with physical activity, and in particular walking. There is growing policy interest in neighbourhood interventions to increase physical activity, specifically walking, suggesting the need for a synthesis of Canadian evidence to better inform local urban planning. There were two main aims of this thesis. The first was to provide a better understanding of how the built environment influences walking behaviour in Canadian adults. The second was to contribute to this body of evidence by studying the associations between individual characteristics of the neighbourhood environment and walking outcomes. A systematized review of Canadian evidence supported findings from other reviews, suggesting that overall walkability, land-use mix, and proximity to destinations are important features of the built environment for promoting transportation walking. Built environment associations with recreation walking are less clear. The systematized review also identified gaps in the current body of research, some of which were addressed in the analytic component of this thesis. A quantitative data analysis for a sample of Canadian adults living in 12 neighbourhoods of varying urban form and socioeconomic status in Calgary, Canada did not find any statistically significant associations between individual characteristics of the neighbourhood built environment and recreation walking or transportation walking, after adjusting for residential self-selection, sociodemographic characteristics, and neighbourhood socioeconomic status. Further research is needed to better understand how individual characteristics of the neighbourhood built environment facilitate or inhibit walking in order to better inform urban planning and public health policy.	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Farkas, B. J. M. (2018). Associations between the Neighbourhood Built Environment and Walking (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/32692	en_US
dc.identifier.doi	http://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/32692
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/1880/107511
dc.language.iso	eng
dc.publisher.faculty	Cumming School of Medicine
dc.publisher.faculty	Graduate Studies
dc.publisher.institution	University of Calgary	en
dc.publisher.place	Calgary	en
dc.rights	University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
dc.subject	built environment
dc.subject	walking
dc.subject	physical activity
dc.subject	urban planning
dc.subject	neighbourhood
dc.subject	Canada
dc.subject.classification	Public Health	en_US
dc.title	Associations between the Neighbourhood Built Environment and Walking
dc.type	master thesis
thesis.degree.discipline	Community Health Sciences
thesis.degree.grantor	University of Calgary
thesis.degree.name	Master of Science (MSc)
ucalgary.item.requestcopy	true