Categorizing the School Neighbourhood Built Environment and Its Associations with Physical Health Among Children and Adolescents: A Scoping Review
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria
2.2. Search Strategy
2.3. Study Selection
2.4. Data Extraction and Analysis
2.5. Study Quality Assessment
3. Results
3.1. The Categorization: Identifying School Neighbourhood Built Environment and Physical Health Variables
3.2. Relationship Between the School Neighbourhood Built Environment Category and the Physical Health Category
3.3. A Weighted Cross-Tabulation Approach
3.3.1. Weighted Cross-Tabulations by Sample Size
3.3.2. Weighted Cross-Tabulations by School Sample
3.3.3. Girl Sample: A Weighted Study Analysis
3.4. Association Density
3.5. The Context: Regional Variations
3.6. Study Quality Assessment
4. Discussion
4.1. Limitation, Strengths and Future Research
4.2. Policy Implications
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
Abbreviations
| ACS | Active commuting to and from (to/from) school |
| BMI | Body Mass Index |
| GIS | Geographic Information System |
| MPA | Moderate Physical Activity |
| MVPA | Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity |
| PA | Physical Activity |
| PEDS | Pedestrian Environment Data Scan |
| physical health | Physical Health |
| VPA | Vigorous Physical Activity |
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| Inclusion | Exclusion | |
|---|---|---|
| Publication time | From 1 January 2000 to 10 March 2023 | Outside the specified inclusion criteria |
| Population | Children and adolescents between 3 and 18 years old, enrolled in kindergarten, primary school or high school | Outside the specified inclusion criteria |
| Language | English | Outside the specified inclusion criteria |
| Type of publication | Peer-reviewed papers | Grey literature: congress communications, protocol studies or editorials |
| Study design | Cross-sectional, longitudinal, and interventional designs (i.e., randomized trials and non-randomized studies) | Outside the specified inclusion criteria. |
| School neighbourhood built environment variables | School neighbourhood built environment variables specified in the search strategy. The variables must have been analyzed for the school neighbourhood built environment, so the distance to the school must appear or the school environment must be explicitly mentioned | School environment (indoor) |
| Physical health variable | Physical health variables specified in the search strategy | Studies focused on health outcomes or chronic conditions that were not physical health (i.e., related to mental health or social health) |
| Relationship between variables | There must be at least one association between at least two variables (physical health vs. school neighbourhood built environment). The association may be significant or non-significant. If it is significant, both positive and negative associations will be included. |
| School Neighbourhood Built Environment Category | School Neighbourhood Built Environment Variables (88 Variables) |
|---|---|
| Building (3 variables) | abandoned buildings; building continuity; taller building |
| Connectivity and Network (32 variables) | (1) Structural sub-dimension: accessibility, closeness centrality, connected node, intersection, local road, major road, pedestrian route directness, setback, verge road, walkability index, and walk score. (2) Functional sub-dimension: bicycled shed, bike lanes/paths and bike racks, cyclability, cycle lane, sidewalk, sidewalk width, curbs, crossing, safe crossing, frontage street conditions, path obstruction, public transportation density, and train stations. (3) Operational sub-dimension: traffic lights, traffic signal, traffic volume, traffic perception, parking, parked cars, illegal parking, and invest nearest road |
| Greenness (8 variables) | green space; green strips; greenness index; natural environment; NDVI; park; park access; trees |
| Food environment (23 variables) | all fast food; all food retailers; amenities; bars; cafés; convenience outlet; convenience outlet; dairy product outlet; fast food; fast food outlet; fast food restaurants; food outlet; food retailer; fruit/vegetable markets; FSR; grillrooms and kebab shops; health/dietic food outlet; meat/fish markets; perceived food outlet; retail food environment; supermarket; take away; unhealthful food environment |
| Land use (14 variables) | condominium buildings, farming; fitness centre; gymnasium and sports stadiums; HHI; internet cafe; land use: industrial; land use: mixed index; PA facilities; reading material rental shops; recreational facilities; residential density; single houses; sport facilities |
| Safety (4 variables) | traffic accidents; safety index; traffic safety; safety concerns |
| Other (4) variables | aesthetics; blue space, litter; school district size |
| Physical Health Category | Variables (36 Variables) |
|---|---|
| Beverage and food intake (9 variables) | delivered/take-out food intake, excess junk food intake, fast food intake, FVI, HEI, less snack intake, sugar-sweetened beverage intake, sugar-sweetened intake, unhealthy intake |
| Body composition (4 variables) | abdominal fatness, adiposity, tricep skinfold thickness, waist circumference |
| Mode of commuting (5 variables) | ACS, bicycling, public transport, non-ACS, wheel |
| PA (9 variables) | MPA, MVPA, outdoor play, outside PA, PA, PA habit strength, PA light, SOPA, VPA |
| Respiratory (2 variables) | asthma, wheeze |
| Sedentary (1 variable) | sedentary |
| Weight status (6 variables) | Akaike’s weight, BMI, height, obesity, overweight, weight |
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© 2026 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.
Share and Cite
Díaz-Carrasco, I.; Campos-Sánchez, S.; Molina-García, J.; Chillón, P. Categorizing the School Neighbourhood Built Environment and Its Associations with Physical Health Among Children and Adolescents: A Scoping Review. Land 2026, 15, 589. https://doi.org/10.3390/land15040589
Díaz-Carrasco I, Campos-Sánchez S, Molina-García J, Chillón P. Categorizing the School Neighbourhood Built Environment and Its Associations with Physical Health Among Children and Adolescents: A Scoping Review. Land. 2026; 15(4):589. https://doi.org/10.3390/land15040589
Chicago/Turabian StyleDíaz-Carrasco, Iris, Sergio Campos-Sánchez, Javier Molina-García, and Palma Chillón. 2026. "Categorizing the School Neighbourhood Built Environment and Its Associations with Physical Health Among Children and Adolescents: A Scoping Review" Land 15, no. 4: 589. https://doi.org/10.3390/land15040589
APA StyleDíaz-Carrasco, I., Campos-Sánchez, S., Molina-García, J., & Chillón, P. (2026). Categorizing the School Neighbourhood Built Environment and Its Associations with Physical Health Among Children and Adolescents: A Scoping Review. Land, 15(4), 589. https://doi.org/10.3390/land15040589

