Concepts of Space and Place Neighborhood Access, Pedestrian Movement, and Physical Activity in Detroit: Implications for Urban Design and Research.

Abstract

The physical environment plays a major role in facilitating people’s activity patterns in residential settings. The ways in which people conceive of their neighborhood as a space and a place for activities has theoretical implications for exploring the relationships between environmental factors and pedestrian behavior and physical activity. An elaboration of existing theories of space and place combines these two constructs into a single framework useful for describing and studying the physical environment. It is suggested that patterns of place and configurational aspects of space both encourage walking and physical activity.

The empirical section of this dissertation investigates the relationships of destination, space syntax, and urban planning measures with pedestrian movement and physical activity outcomes. This work draws on data from the Healthy Environments Partnership (HEP), a research initiative that focuses on the contributions of the environment to health outcomes in three Detroit neighborhoods. Data were obtained from a household survey of 919 respondents, neighborhood observations, parcel level land use records, and the US census. The physical activity outcome data comes from the survey and is directly connected to neighborhood residents, while the neighborhood observations of pedestrian movement include both residents and visitors.

Multilevel and OLS regression analyses were used to test the relative predictive strength of the three types of environmental factors on two sets of outcomes: pedestrian movement (+ sedentary behavior) and physical activity (and waist circumference). Psychosocial perceptions were also analyzed as possible mediating factors. Findings show that the three types of measures are associated with pedestrian movement, with destination measures being the most related; fewer associations were found with waist circumference and physical activity. Perceptions of the psychosocial environment were not found to mediate the main effects.

New environmental measures developed for this research offer new ways to conceptualize the built environment. The findings related to psychosocial factors, the importance of destination measures, and the theoretical distinction made between physical activity and pedestrian movement may be useful constructs in the design process. This dissertation suggests that approaches emphasizing environmental patterns rather than discrete environmental variables should be considered in future research.