Walking in Cities (10-24-12)
People interested in urban design will find Speck’s book useful, even if they do not generally focus on designing to enhance the health of the public or the planet.
People interested in urban design will find Speck’s book useful, even if they do not generally focus on designing to enhance the health of the public or the planet.
Researchers have investigated the design of environments that promote children’s health, from pediatric hospitals to neighborhood streets to play areas.
More research supports the connection between the physical environment and neighborhood social relations, and adds to our understanding about specific features that draw both old and young outdoors.
Hekler and his colleagues investigated “if key within-person factors (i.e., implementation intentions, social support, affect and self-efficacy) would be associated with walking and if perceived access to supportive environments (e.g., access to nice walking paths) and perceived environmental barriers (e.g., bad weather and safety issues) were uniquely associated with walking.”
Beenackers and colleagues analyzed the behavior of relocating adults to identify factors in their new environments linked to bicycling.
Childhood obesity is a significant public health issue in many communities.
The number of obese children in the United States has increased interest in any of their activities that burn calories.
Research continues on factors that increase walking.
British psychologists have learned that all that time we spend sitting at work has repercussions beyond the size of the posterior we’re sitting on.
Singh and colleagues reviewed the existing research on adolescent physical activity and academic performance.