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Center for Advancing Research in Transportation Emissions, Energy, and Health (CARTEEH)

A USDOT University Transportation Center

Increases in Physical Activity

Proximity to green space can provide more opportunities for exercise, thus increasing physical activity rates in a community, as well as protecting against obesity and mental illnesses.1 Therefore, physical activity rates can be used as a metric to study the impact of strategies that promote and expand urban green space.

This indicator helps determine the effectiveness of the following objectives

  • Less Contamination
  • Less Emissions
  • Less Traffic Noise
  • Connectivity and Inclusion
  • Healthy Destinations
  • Less Traffic Violence
  • Active Transportation
  • Green Space

Data Collection

The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) is a good source of information on physical activity levels in the United States.2 Another way to get data on physical activity levels is through surveys conducted by state and local health departments. Data on physical activity levels can also be collated through fitness trackers and other wearable devices. Many of these devices have sensors that track movement and show how active someone is. Fitness trackers can be a good way to get data on many people, but they may not be accurate. Finally, Data on physical activity levels can be collected from people’s self-reports. This can be done through surveys or questionnaires. Self-reported data may not be as accurate as other sources, but it can still give some idea of how active people are.3

Examples

Neighborhood green space, physical function and participation in physical activities among elderly men: the Caerphilly Prospective study

In a study, Gong et al. (2014) looked at how varying degrees of lower extremity physical function among elderly men affected how much physical activity they engaged in. The study compiled information from the Caerphilly Prospective Study and high resolution Landmap true color aerial photography related to green space. According to the their findings, after adjusting for lower extremity physical function, psychological distress, general health, car ownership, age group, marital status, social class, education level, and other environmental factors, an increase in the percentage of green space within a 400 meter buffer around the home was significantly associated with higher rates of physical activity.

https://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1479-5868-11-40

1. County Health Rankings & Roadmaps. (2020). Green space & parks. https://www.countyhealthrankings.org/take-action-to-improve-health/what-works-for-health/strategies/green-space-parks
2. About the national health and nutrition examination survey [Internet]. Cdc.gov. 2020 [cited 2022 Aug 4]. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/about_nhanes.htm
3. Kindratt, T.B. National health and nutrition examination survey. In: Big Data for Epidemiology: Applied Data Analysis Using National Health Surveys. Mavs Open Press; 2022.