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Assessing cycling-friendly environments for children : are micro-environmental factors equally important across different street settings?
- Source :
- INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL NUTRITION AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, The International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity
- Publication Year :
- 2015
-
Abstract
- Background As physical activity levels decrease as children age, sustainable and accessible forms of physical activity are needed from a young age. Transportation cycling is one such physical activity and has been associated with many benefits. The aims of the study were to identify whether manipulating micro-environmental factors (e.g. speed limits, evenness of cycle path) within a photographed street influences the perceived supportiveness for transportation cycling; and whether changing these micro-environmental factors has the same effect across different street settings. Methods We recruited 305 fifth and sixth grade children and their parents from twelve randomly selected primary schools in Flanders, Belgium. They completed a web-based questionnaire including 12 choice-based conjoint tasks, in which they had to choose between two possible routes depicted on manipulated photographs, which the child would cycle along. The routes differed in four attributes: general street setting (enclosed, half open, open), evenness of cycle path (very uneven, moderately uneven, even), speed limit (70 km/h, 50 km/h, 30 km/h) and degree of separation between a cycle path and motorised traffic (no separation, curb, hedge). Hierarchical Bayes analyses revealed the relative importance of each micro-environmental attribute across the three street settings. Results For each attribute, children and their parents chose routes that had the best alternative (i.e. open street setting, even cycle path, 30 km/h, a hedge separating the cycle path from motorised traffic). The evenness of the cycle path and lower speed limit had the largest effect for the children, while the degree of separation and lower speed limit had the largest effect for their parents. Interactions between micro-scale and macro-scale factors revealed differences in the magnitude but not direction of their effects on route choice. The results held across the different kinds of street settings tested. Conclusions Improving micro-scale attributes may increase the supportiveness of a street for children’s transportation cycling. We call for on-site research to test effects of changes in micro-environmental attributes on transportation cycling among children. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12966-015-0216-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
- Subjects :
- Male
Parents
Built environment
PERCEPTIONS
Youth
FITNESS
Simulated environments
Poison control
Medicine (miscellaneous)
Transportation
Level design
Experiment
0302 clinical medicine
Belgium
Surveys and Questionnaires
ADOLESCENTS
Photography
Medicine and Health Sciences
030212 general & internal medicine
Child
Schools
Nutrition and Dietetics
4. Education
Human factors and ergonomics
Road characteristics
NEIGHBORHOOD
Geography
HIERARCHY
Species evenness
Female
HEALTH
Cycling
030209 endocrinology & metabolism
Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation
Motor Activity
Preference
03 medical and health sciences
Environmental health
Humans
SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION
Speed limit
Research
FRAMEWORK
Bicycling
INDEPENDENT MOBILITY
Sustainable transport
PHYSICAL-ACTIVITY
Bicycle
Environment Design
Demography
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 14795868
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL NUTRITION AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, The International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....1f18c5921a6a7834c8d9155410a796f5