Marquet and colleagues link area walkability and greenness to the activity levels of users. They found “Using a nationwide sample of working female adults . . . [and] seven days of GPS and accelerometry data. . . . [that] Higher activity space walkability was associated with higher levels of moderate-vigorous physical activity, and higher activity space greenness was associated with greater numbers of steps per week. . . . Highest levels of moderate-vigorous physical activity were observed for participants with both high walkability and high greenness in their activity spaces. This study contributes evidence that higher levels of physical activity occur in environments with more dense, diverse, and well-connected built environments, and with higher amounts of vegetation.”
Oriol Marquet, Jana Hirsch, Jacqueline Kerr, Marta Jankowska, Jonathan Mitchell, Jaime Hart, Francine Laden, J. Hipp, and Peter James. 2022. “GPS-Based Activity Space Exposure to Greenness and Walkability Is Associated With Increased Accelerometer-Based Physical Activity.” Environment International, vol. 165, 107317, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2022.107317