The influence of built environment on walking behavior: Measurement issues, theoretical considerations, modeling methodologies and chinese empirical studies

Abstract

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015. The built environment provides spatial, temporal and social contexts for human behavior. They usually comprise the following elements: (1) land use patterns, including the spatial distributions of buildings and human activities; (2) transportation systems, including hard transport infrastructure and soft transit service and (3) design, including the arrangement and appearance of physical elements (Handy 2005; Saelens and Handy 2008). Certain studies of the built environment on walking behavior in Western cities are driven by planning reform movements, such as new urbanism, smart growth and transit-oriented development (TOD). By shapin the built environment, planners aim to encourage walking behavior while reducing motorized movement. A built environment is labeled as “pedestrian-oriented” if it has relatively high density, a mixture of land uses, a street network with high connectivity, human-scale streets and desirable aesthetic qualities (Cervero and Kockelman 1997). Because walking is emerging as an important form of moderateintensity physical activity and a practical health improvementmethod for the general public, public health is putting great effort into researching walking behavior (Owen et al. 2004).