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Articles in Pedestrian environment design impacts walking activity in neighborhoods.

  • The rate of walking is nearly 13% lower among rural residents than among suburban residents.

    Eyler AA, Brownson RC, Bacak SJ, Housemann RJ. The epidemiology of walking for physical activity in the United States. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2003;35:1529-1536.

  • Rural residents are more likely than urban or suburban individuals to report barriers to physical activity, which may include fewer sidewalks, limited access to exercise facilities, and lower social support for physical activity.

    Parks SE, Housemann RA, Brownson RC. Differential correlates of physical activity in urban and rural adults of various socioeconomic backgrounds in the United States. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2003;57:29-35.
    Wilcox S, Castro C, King AC, Housemann RA, Brownson RC. Determinants of leisure time physical activity in rural compared with urban older and ethnically diverse women in the United States. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2000;54:667-672.

  • The risk of pedestrian injuries may discourage pedestrian activity and negatively impact physical separation between pedestrians and traffic. One recent study found that three factors - traffic volume, traffic speed, and the separation between pedestrians and traffic - explained 85% of the variation in perceived safety and comfort for pedestrians.

    Landis BW, Vattikuti VR, Ottenberg RM, McLeod DS, Guttenplan M. Modeling the roadside walking environment: a pedestrian level of service. Transp Res Rec. 2007;1773

  • A neighborhood with significant obstacles to walking - such as high traffic volumes and speeds, narrow sidewalks, poorly connected streets, unsafe intersections, and a lack of lighting - is likely to reduce walking on residential streets.

    US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Barriers to children walking and biking to school -- United States, 1999. MMWR. 2002;51(32):701-704.
    Li FZ, Fisher KJ, Brownson RC, et al. Multilevel modelling of built environment characteristics related to neighbourhood walking activity in older adults. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2005;59(7):558-564.
    Transportation Alternatives. Traffic's human toll: a study of the impacts of vehicular traffic on New York City residents. New York, NY. 2006.

  • Gaining access to walkable streets will likely increase physical activity. In one study, men and women who reported positive changes in the convenience of walking were more than twice as likely to increase their walking.

    Humpel N, Marshall AL, Leslie E, Bauman A, Owen N. Changes in neighborhood wlaking are related to changes in perceptions of environmental attributes. Ann Behav Med. 2004;27(1):60-67.

  • In many places, walking is a primary source of physical activity and sidewalks and streets are the place people walk most commonly.

    Powell KE, Martin LM, Chowdhury PP. Places to walk: convenience and regular physical activity. Am J Public Health. 2003;93(9):1519-1521.