Development of a Neighbourhood Walkability Index for Porto Metropolitan Area. How Strongly Is Walkability Associated with Walking for Transport?
The creation of walkable communities constitutes a cost-effective health promotion strategy, as walking is an accessible and free intervention for increasing physical activity and health. In this cross-sectional ecological study, we developed a walkability index for the Porto Metropolitan Area and w...
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doaj-18cd5a01f4584f17abd66729b48dc7092020-11-24T20:44:36ZengMDPI AGInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health1660-46012018-12-011512276710.3390/ijerph15122767ijerph15122767Development of a Neighbourhood Walkability Index for Porto Metropolitan Area. How Strongly Is Walkability Associated with Walking for Transport?Ana Isabel Ribeiro0Elaine Hoffimann1EPIUnit—Instituto de Saúde Pública, Universidade do Porto, 4050-600 Porto, PortugalEPIUnit—Instituto de Saúde Pública, Universidade do Porto, 4050-600 Porto, PortugalThe creation of walkable communities constitutes a cost-effective health promotion strategy, as walking is an accessible and free intervention for increasing physical activity and health. In this cross-sectional ecological study, we developed a walkability index for the Porto Metropolitan Area and we validated it by assessing its association with walking for transportation. Neighborhood walkability was measured using a geographic information system and resulted from the weighted sum of residential density, street connectivity, and a destination-based entropy index. The index was categorized into quintiles of increasing walkability. Among the 1,112,555 individuals living in the study area, 28.1% resided in neighborhoods in the upper quintile of walkability and 15.8% resided in the least walkable neighborhoods. Adjusted regression models revealed that individuals residing in the most walkable neighborhoods are 81% more likely to report walking for transportation, compared with those from the least walkable neighborhoods (odds ratio: 1.81; 95% confidence intervals: 1.76⁻1.87). These results suggest that community design strategies to improve walkability may promote walking behavior.https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/12/2767built environmenturban healthurban formwalkingphysical activityhealth promotion |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Ana Isabel Ribeiro Elaine Hoffimann |
spellingShingle |
Ana Isabel Ribeiro Elaine Hoffimann Development of a Neighbourhood Walkability Index for Porto Metropolitan Area. How Strongly Is Walkability Associated with Walking for Transport? International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health built environment urban health urban form walking physical activity health promotion |
author_facet |
Ana Isabel Ribeiro Elaine Hoffimann |
author_sort |
Ana Isabel Ribeiro |
title |
Development of a Neighbourhood Walkability Index for Porto Metropolitan Area. How Strongly Is Walkability Associated with Walking for Transport? |
title_short |
Development of a Neighbourhood Walkability Index for Porto Metropolitan Area. How Strongly Is Walkability Associated with Walking for Transport? |
title_full |
Development of a Neighbourhood Walkability Index for Porto Metropolitan Area. How Strongly Is Walkability Associated with Walking for Transport? |
title_fullStr |
Development of a Neighbourhood Walkability Index for Porto Metropolitan Area. How Strongly Is Walkability Associated with Walking for Transport? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Development of a Neighbourhood Walkability Index for Porto Metropolitan Area. How Strongly Is Walkability Associated with Walking for Transport? |
title_sort |
development of a neighbourhood walkability index for porto metropolitan area. how strongly is walkability associated with walking for transport? |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |
issn |
1660-4601 |
publishDate |
2018-12-01 |
description |
The creation of walkable communities constitutes a cost-effective health promotion strategy, as walking is an accessible and free intervention for increasing physical activity and health. In this cross-sectional ecological study, we developed a walkability index for the Porto Metropolitan Area and we validated it by assessing its association with walking for transportation. Neighborhood walkability was measured using a geographic information system and resulted from the weighted sum of residential density, street connectivity, and a destination-based entropy index. The index was categorized into quintiles of increasing walkability. Among the 1,112,555 individuals living in the study area, 28.1% resided in neighborhoods in the upper quintile of walkability and 15.8% resided in the least walkable neighborhoods. Adjusted regression models revealed that individuals residing in the most walkable neighborhoods are 81% more likely to report walking for transportation, compared with those from the least walkable neighborhoods (odds ratio: 1.81; 95% confidence intervals: 1.76⁻1.87). These results suggest that community design strategies to improve walkability may promote walking behavior. |
topic |
built environment urban health urban form walking physical activity health promotion |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/12/2767 |
work_keys_str_mv |
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