Older Adults’ Outdoor Walking: Inequalities in Neighbourhood Safety, Pedestrian Infrastructure and Aesthetics
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Selection of Low- and High-Deprivation Areas
2.2. Participant Recruitment
2.3. Measuring Outdoor Walking Level with a GPS Tracker
2.4. Measuring Perceived Neighbourhood Built Environment Attributes
2.4.1. Questionnaire
2.4.2. Walking Interview
2.5. Data Analysis
2.5.1. Quantitative Analysis
2.5.2. Qualitative Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Sample Characteristics
3.2. Disparities in Participants’ Outdoor Walking Levels
3.3. Spatial Inequalities in Perceived Neighbourhood Built Environment Attributes
3.4. Statistical Relationships between Perceived Neighbourhood Built Environment Attributes and Outdoor Walking Levels
3.5. Qualitative Results on Perceived Influences of Neighbourhood Built Environment Attributes on Outdoor Walking Levels
3.5.1. Safety
3.5.2. Pedestrian Infrastructure
3.5.3. Aesthetics
3.6. Combining Quantitative and Qualitative Results
4. Discussion
4.1. Perceived Neighbourhood Safety, Quietness and Aesthetics
4.2. Other Aspects of Perceived Neighbourhood Pedestrian Infrastructure
4.3. Application of the Findings
4.4. Limitations
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Acknowledgments
Author Contributions
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Neighbourhood Built Environment Attribute | Definition |
---|---|
Safety | Refers to the relative absence of threat from crime to residents of a neighbourhood. A safe neighbourhood offers less fear of crime by providing built environmental elements (e.g., street lights or windows in ground floor of buildings) and lower crime rate [31]. |
Pedestrian infrastructure | Refers to the traffic and pavement conditions (e.g., traffic calming elements and pavement maintenance) and amenities (e.g., benches) that facilitate walking in a neighbourhood. A good pedestrian infrastructure make walking comfortable by reducing traffic hazards and risks of falling, providing amenities [31] and decreasing ambient stressors (e.g., noise). |
Aesthetics | Refers to a sense of beauty and visual appearance of a neighbourhood. An aesthetically pleasurable neighbourhood invites resident to walk by offering an enjoyable area for walking and providing built and natural attractiveness (e.g., presence of attractive architecture and trees) [31]. |
Subscale | Number of Items | Content Description | Cronbach Alpha (α) | M (SD) a |
---|---|---|---|---|
Safety | 6 | My neighbourhood streets are well lit/Pedestrian can be easily seen by people in their homes/I see and speak to other people when I walk in my neighbourhood/there is a high crime rate/the crime rate makes it unsafe to walk during day/the crime rate makes it unsafe to walk in the evening | 0.73 | 4.39 (0.74) |
Traffic condition | 7 | There is so much traffic along the street I live in/there is high speed of traffic on the street I live/there is so much traffic along the nearby streets/The speed of traffic is slow on the nearby streets/drivers exceed the speed limit in neighbourhood/there are crosswalks and pedestrian signals to help walkers/crosswalks help to feel safe crossing busy streets | 0.71 | 3.62 (0.80) |
Pavement condition | 5 | There are pavements on most streets/pavements are well-maintained/pavements are wide enough/clutters (e.g., poles, bollards, etc.) in pavements make walking difficult/vehicle park on pavement, leaving too little space for walking | 0.65 | 4.07 (0.77) |
Presence of amenities | 3 | There are shelters (e.g., bus stop) protecting me from rain and wind/ there are adequate public seating or benches and I can rest whenever I feel tired/there are adequate public toilets and I can easily use them | 0.72 | 2.64 (1.05) |
Quietness | 1 | My neighbourhood is quiet and noiseless | --- | 3.73 (1.43) |
Air quality | 1 | There are a lot of exhaust fumes | --- | 3.18 (1.23) |
Aesthetics | 6 | There are trees along the streets/there are many interesting things to look at/my neighbourhood is free from litter/there are many attractive natural sights/well-maintained front gardens have created attractive streets/there are attractive buildings in my neighbourhood | 0.92 | 3.48 (1.31) |
Participants’ Characteristics | Walking Interview | Open-Ended Questions | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Low | High | Total | Low | High | Total | |
Number of participants | 9 | 10 | 19 | 26 | 26 | 52 |
Age (n): | ||||||
75 years old and over | 5 | 5 | 10 | 16 | 13 | 29 |
65–74 years old | 4 | 5 | 9 | 10 | 13 | 23 |
Gender (n): | ||||||
Men | 2 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 11 | 17 |
Women | 7 | 6 | 13 | 20 | 15 | 35 |
Marital status (n): | ||||||
In relationship | 6 | 5 | 11 | 15 | 11 | 26 |
Single | 3 | 5 | 8 | 11 | 15 | 26 |
Ethnicity (n): | ||||||
White British | 8 | 5 | 13 | 26 | 12 | 38 |
BME groups | 1 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 14 | 14 |
Educational attainment (n): | ||||||
GCSE and higher | 9 | 2 | 11 | 21 | 9 | 30 |
Sub-GCSE | 0 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 13 | 15 |
Health status (n): | ||||||
Good | 9 | 9 | 18 | 24 | 24 | 48 |
Poor | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
Participants’ Characteristics | Total Sample | Total Sub-Sample | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Low | High | Total | Low | High | Total | |
Number of participants | 93 | 80 | 173 | 35 | 36 | 71 |
Average age of participants (M (SD)) | 74.8 (5.82) | 73.5 (5.95) | 74.2 (5.90) | 75.46 (6.09) | 73.00 (6.33) | 74.2 (6.29) |
Age (%): | ||||||
75 years old and over | 53 | 43 | 48 | 60 | 50 | 55 |
65–74 years old | 47 | 57 | 52 | 40 | 50 | 45 |
Gender (%): | ||||||
Men | 30 | 59 | 43 | 23 | 42 | 32 |
Women | 70 | 41 | 57 | 77 | 58 | 68 |
Marital status (%): | ||||||
In relationship | 53 | 53 | 53 | 60 | 44 | 52 |
Single | 47 | 47 | 47 | 40 | 56 | 48 |
Ethnicity (%): | ||||||
White British | 97 | 41 | 71 | 97 | 47 | 72 |
BME groups | 3 | 59 | 29 | 3 | 53 | 28 |
Educational attainment (%): | ||||||
GCSE and higher | 80 | 24 | 54 | 86 | 31 | 58 |
Sub-GCSE | 10 | 64 | 35 | 6 | 58 | 32 |
Health status (%): | ||||||
Good | 93 | 92 | 92 | 94 | 92 | 94 |
Poor | 6 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 7 |
Perceived Neighbourhood Built Environment Attribute | Outdoor Walking Levels | |
---|---|---|
Before Controlling for Interaction a | After Controlling for Interaction a | |
B (SE) | B (SE) | |
Safety | 1.33 (0.48) ** | 1.20 (0.49) * |
Traffic condition | 0.48 (0.37) | 0.37 (0.38) |
Pavement condition | 0.06 (0.43) | −0.10 (0.43) |
Presence of amenities | 0.33 (0.23) | 0.40 (0.23) |
Quietness | 0.54 (0.17) ** | 0.57 (0.18) ** |
Air Quality | 0.16 (0.20) | 0.28 (0.21) |
Aesthetics | 0.55 (0.22) * | 0.53 (0.23) * |
Aspects of Perceived Neighbourhood Pedestrian Infrastructure | Outdoor Walking Levels | |
---|---|---|
Low-Deprivation Areas | High-Deprivation Areas | |
B (SE) | B (SE) | |
Pavement condition | −0.69 (0.71) | −0.16 (0.63) |
Presence of amenities | 0.58 (0.30) | −0.43 (0.42) |
Air quality | 0.15 (0.29) | −0.08 (0.31) |
Neighbourhood Built Environment Attribute | Quantitative Results | Qualitative Results | |
---|---|---|---|
Spatial Inequalities | Related to Walking Levels | Perceived Influences of Neighbourhood Built Environment Attributes on Outdoor Walking Level | |
Safety | High < Low | Yes | High: perceived intimidating neighbourhoods were unsupportive and discouraging for outdoor walking. Low: perceived safe neighbourhoods supported and encouraged participants to take outdoor walks. |
Traffic condition | High < Low | No | High: perceived poor traffic conditions made outdoor walking uncomfortable. Participants took outdoor walk in quiet traffic time or in quiet roads and they carefully crossed the roads without using crossings. Low: perceived some poor traffic conditions made walking uncomfortable. |
Pavement condition | High < Low | No | High and Low: perceived poor pavement conditions made walking uncomfortable. Participants chose even pavements for walking. |
Presence of amenities | High < Low | No | High and Low: lack of benches and public toilets were perceived. Participants used benches and public toilets of shops, malls and supermarkets. |
Quietness | High < Low | Yes | High: perceived noise, especially from traffic, in neighbourhood dissuaded participants to walk outside. Low: perceived quietness of neighbourhood definitely encouraged outdoor walking. |
Air quality | High < Low | No | High: air quality was perceived poorer in winter. A clean air was preferred for outdoor walking. Low: perceived clean air encouraged outdoor walking. |
Aesthetics | High < Low | Yes | High: perceived boring, uninteresting and unenjoyable neighbourhoods discouraged outdoor walking. Low: perceived beautiful and enjoyable neighbourhoods encouraged outdoor walking. |
© 2016 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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Zandieh, R.; Martinez, J.; Flacke, J.; Jones, P.; Van Maarseveen, M. Older Adults’ Outdoor Walking: Inequalities in Neighbourhood Safety, Pedestrian Infrastructure and Aesthetics. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2016, 13, 1179. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13121179
Zandieh R, Martinez J, Flacke J, Jones P, Van Maarseveen M. Older Adults’ Outdoor Walking: Inequalities in Neighbourhood Safety, Pedestrian Infrastructure and Aesthetics. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2016; 13(12):1179. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13121179
Chicago/Turabian StyleZandieh, Razieh, Javier Martinez, Johannes Flacke, Phil Jones, and Martin Van Maarseveen. 2016. "Older Adults’ Outdoor Walking: Inequalities in Neighbourhood Safety, Pedestrian Infrastructure and Aesthetics" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 13, no. 12: 1179. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13121179