Exploring the spatial scale effects of built environments on transport walking: Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

• Published in: Health & place Vol. 73; p. 102722
• Main Authors: Li, Jingjing, Auchincloss, Amy H., Hirsch, Jana A., Melly, Steven J., Moore, Kari A., Peterson, Adam, Sánchez, Brisa N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.01.2022; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Activities of daily living; Arteriosclerosis; Atherosclerosis; Built Environment; Built environments; Density; Destinations; Distributed lag modeling; Environment Design; Everyday life; Food; Humans; Longitudinal; Middle Aged; Neighborhoods; Policy making; Residence Characteristics; Spatial scale effects; Subsets; Thresholds; Time series; Transport walking; Transportation; United States; Urban environments; Walking; United States; Distributed lag modeling; Transport walking; Spatial scale effects; Built environments; Longitudinal
• ISSN: 1353-8292; 1873-2054
• DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2021.102722

We employed a longitudinal distributed lag modeling approach to systematically estimate how associations between built environment features and transport walking decayed with the increase of distance from home to built environment destinations. Data came from a cohort recruited from six U.S. cities (follow-up 2000–2010, N = 3913, baseline mean age 60). Built environment features included all walkable destinations, consisting of common and popular destinations for daily life. We also included two subsets frequent social destinations and food stores to examine if the spatial scale effects differed by varying density for different types of built environment destinations. Adjusted results found that increases in transport walking diminished when built environment destinations were farther, although distance thresholds varied across different types of built environment destinations. Higher availability of walking destinations within 2-km and frequent social destinations within 1.6-km were associated with transport walking. Food stores were not associated with transport walking. This new information will help policymakers and urban designers understand at what distances each type of built environment destinations influences transport walking, in turn informing the development of interventions and/or the placement of amenities within neighborhoods to promote transport walking. The findings that spatial scales depend on specific built environment features also highlight the need for methods that can more flexibly estimate associations between outcomes and different built environment features across varying contexts, in order to improve our understanding of the spatial mechanisms involved in said associations. •Longitudinal distributed lag models estimate associations of transport walking with built environment vary across distance.•Higher number of walking destinations within 2-km and social destinations within 1.6-km were related with transport walking.•The spatial scales within which built environments have health impacts vary by different types of built environment features.•Our findings inform policymakers where to place amenities within neighborhood to promote health behaviors.