Citation

Jensen WA, Brown BB, Smith KR, Brewer SC, Amburgey JW, McIff B. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017; 14(9): e14091014.

Affiliation

Utah Department of Health, 288 N 1460 W, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, USA. bmciff@gmail.com.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/ijerph14091014

PMID

28872595

Abstract

Few studies of walkability include both perceived and audited walkability measures. We examined perceived walkability (Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale-Abbreviated, NEWS-A) and audited walkability (Irvine-Minnesota Inventory, IMI) measures for residents living within 2 km of a "complete street"-one renovated with light rail, bike lanes, and sidewalks. For perceived walkability, we found some differences but substantial similarity between our final scales and those in a prior published confirmatory factor analysis. Perceived walkability, in interaction with distance, was related to complete street active transportation. Residents were likely to have active transportation on the street when they lived nearby and perceived good aesthetics, crime safety, and traffic safety. Audited walkability, analyzed with decision trees, showed three general clusters of walkability areas, with 12 specific subtypes. A subset of walkability items (n = 11), including sidewalks, zebra-striped crosswalks, decorative sidewalks, pedestrian signals, and blank walls combined to cluster street segments. The 12 subtypes yielded 81% correct classification of residents' active transportation. Both perceived and audited walkability were important predictors of active transportation. For audited walkability, we recommend more exploration of decision tree approaches, given their predictive utility and ease of translation into walkability interventions.

Language: en

Keywords

accelerometer; active travel; audited walkability; complete street; global positioning system; perceived walkability; physical activity