Public open space, physical activity, urban design and public health: Concepts, methods and research agenda

Mohammad Javad Koohsari; Suzanne Mavoa; Karen Villanueva; Takemi Sugiyama; Hannah Badland; Andrew T Kaczynski; Neville Owen; Billie Giles-Corti

doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2015.02.009

Public open space, physical activity, urban design and public health: Concepts, methods and research agenda

Health Place. 2015 May:33:75-82. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2015.02.009. Epub 2015 Mar 19.

Authors

Mohammad Javad Koohsari¹, Suzanne Mavoa², Karen Villanueva³, Takemi Sugiyama⁴, Hannah Badland⁵, Andrew T Kaczynski⁶, Neville Owen⁷, Billie Giles-Corti⁸

Affiliations

¹ McCaughey VicHealth Community Wellbeing Unit, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; Behavioural Epidemiology Laboratory, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. Electronic address: mohammad.koohsari@unimelb.edu.au.
² McCaughey VicHealth Community Wellbeing Unit, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. Electronic address: suzanne.mavoa@unimelb.edu.au.
³ McCaughey VicHealth Community Wellbeing Unit, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. Electronic address: k.villanueva@unimelb.edu.au.
⁴ Spatial Epidemiology and Evaluation Research Group, Sansom Institute for Health Research & School of Population Health, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia; Behavioural Epidemiology Laboratory, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. Electronic address: Takemi.Sugiyama@unisa.edu.au.
⁵ McCaughey VicHealth Community Wellbeing Unit, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. Electronic address: hannah.badland@unimelb.edu.au.
⁶ Prevention Research Center, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA. Electronic address: ATKACZYN@mailbox.sc.edu.
⁷ Behavioural Epidemiology Laboratory, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. Electronic address: Neville.Owen@bakeridi.edu.au.
⁸ McCaughey VicHealth Community Wellbeing Unit, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. Electronic address: b.giles-corti@unimelb.edu.au.

PMID: 25779691
DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2015.02.009

Abstract

Public open spaces such as parks and green spaces are key built environment elements within neighbourhoods for encouraging a variety of physical activity behaviours. Over the past decade, there has been a burgeoning number of active living research studies examining the influence of public open space on physical activity. However, the evidence shows mixed associations between different aspects of public open space (e.g., proximity, size, quality) and physical activity. These inconsistencies hinder the development of specific evidence-based guidelines for urban designers and policy-makers for (re)designing public open space to encourage physical activity. This paper aims to move this research agenda forward, by identifying key conceptual and methodological issues that may contribute to inconsistencies in research examining relations between public open space and physical activity.

Keywords: Built environment; Neighbourhood; Parks; Urban form; Walking.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Environment Design*
Exercise* / psychology
Humans
Parks, Recreational*
Public Health*
Residence Characteristics