Active living

Summarizing and assessing walkability within built environments

There is increasing emphasis in transportation planning  and public health on active modes, such as walking, as a sustainable form of mobility and as a means of achieving recommended physical activity and better health outcomes. A research focus is the influence of the built environment on walking, with the ultimate goal of identifying environmental modifications that invite more walking. A key question is assessing walkability measures so that they reflect potential walking behavior.  A behaviorally-meaning way to summarize walkability measures is through the concept of activity spaces, or the limited portion of an environment that can be experienced by an individual based on spatial and temporal constraints on mobility.

The latest publication from the Moving Across Places Study (MAPS) develops and applies methods for assessing built environment walkability using activity-space summary measures.

Tribby CP, Miller HJ, Brown BB, Werner CM and Smith, KR (2016) “Assessing built environment walkability using activity space summary measures,” Journal of Transport and Land Use. [Published online: 2 June 2015]

 

OSU Sustainable Mobility Series: The Moving Across Places Study (MAPS)

I’m giving the May lecture in The Ohio State University’s Office of Energy and Environment (OEE) Sustainable Mobility Lecture Series:

The Moving Across Places Study (MAPS): Measuring the Influence of Light Rail Transit and Complete Streets on Physical Activity

This lecture will describe a quasi-experimental, longitudinal study of physical activity levels before and after light rail construction and Complete Streets rehabilitation in a neighborhood of Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.

Thursday, May 21 at 12:00 noon, in Scott Lab, Room E525.  Beverages and dessert will be provided.

Bring your lunch and enjoy this presentation and discussion (unless you are going on a lunch time walk, in which case I understand).

More information

Howard A. Stafford Lecture at University of Cincinnati

On Friday, November 14th, I’ll be giving the 9th Annual Howard A. Stafford Lecture in the Department of Geography at the University of Cincinnati.  The subject is “The Moving Across Places Study (MAPS): Measuring the Influence of Built Environmental Interventions on Physical Activity.”   For more information, see the flyer.

Hope to see you there, my friends in the greater tri-state region!