Urban Environment

Koreny and teammates evaluated how urban design influences the activity levels of people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).  They determined via research with people with mild-to-very severe COPD that “higher population density was associated with fewer steps, more sedentary time and worse exercise capacity. . . . Pedestrian street length related with more steps and less sedentary time. . . . Steeper slope was associated with better exercise capacity. . . . Higher NO2 [nitrogen dioxide] levels related with more sedentary time and more difficulty in physical activity.

Ogletree and colleagues found lower crime levels in areas near greenspaces.  They report that they “investigate[d] the relationship between different types of crime and urban greenspace in 59,703 census block groups within the 301 largest cities in the United States. After accounting for . . . demographic, socioeconomic, and climate variables, we found that, on average, census block groups with more greenspace . . . had lower risk of both property [for example, arson, vandalism, and burglary]. . . and violent crime. . . .

Sudimac, Sale, and Kuhn confirm the value of taking walks in natural areas.  They share that they “conducted an intervention study to investigate changes in stress-related brain regions as an effect of a one-hour walk in an urban (busy street) vs. natural environment (forest). . . . findings reveal that amygdala [the amygdala is involved in stress processing] activation decreases after the walk in nature, whereas it remains stable after the walk in an urban environment. These results suggest that going for a walk in nature . . .

Mendoza and colleagues studied links between urban design and suicide mortality.  They report that “Surrounding greenness was measured using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) within a 300 m and 1,000 m buffer around the residential address at baseline. . . . We observed a 7% . . . and 6% . . . risk reduction of suicide mortality for an . . . increase in residential surrounding greenness for buffers of 300 m and 1,000 m, respectively. . . .

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.