Department of Behavioral Health and Nutrition, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA.
Department of Behavioral Health and Nutrition, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA.
Prev Med. 2023 Apr;169:107454. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2023.107454. Epub 2023 Feb 17.
Walkability relates to aspects of a physical environment that have the potential to influence walking in that environment. In 2019, the Environmental Protection Agency developed the National Walkability Index (NWI), an easily accessible, U.S. Census block-group-level indicator of walkability. Although the NWI could be the metric of choice for researchers and urban planners, there is a lack of empirical evidence for its validity. The current study examined the validity of the NWI and Walk Score for predicting physical activity (PA) occurring along urban streetscapes. A wearable video device (Gogloo E7 SMART eyewear) was used to capture videos of streetscapes in 24 U.S. Census block groups in three different sized cities. The block groups varied in walkability, income level, and minority composition. The videos, collected over 10 months during 2019 at different times on weekdays and weekends, were reviewed by experts to obtain counts of walkers/h and individuals performing leisure PA/h (dependent variables). The independent variables were the NWI, its components - transit stop proximity, intersection density, employment/household occupancy mix, and employment mix, and Walk Score. Block group was the level of analysis. Linear regression indicated Walk Score, employment/household occupancy mix, and employment mix were associated with walkers/h (p < .001) while only employment/household occupancy mix, and employment mix were associated with leisure PA/h (p < .001). The NWI did not account for a significant portion of the variance in PA outcomes. A place-based examination of PA and walkability indexes favors the use of Walk Score and a modified version of the NWI.
步行能力与物理环境的各个方面有关,这些方面有可能影响在该环境中行走。2019 年,美国环境保护署制定了国家步行能力指数(NWI),这是一个易于获取的、基于美国人口普查街区组级别的步行能力指标。尽管 NWI 可能是研究人员和城市规划者的首选指标,但它的有效性缺乏实证证据。本研究考察了 NWI 和 Walk Score 用于预测城市街景中发生的身体活动(PA)的有效性。使用可穿戴视频设备(Gogloo E7 SMART 眼镜)来拍摄 24 个美国人口普查街区组的街景视频,这些街区组位于三个不同规模的城市。这些街区组的步行能力、收入水平和少数民族构成各不相同。这些视频是在 2019 年的 10 个月里,在工作日和周末的不同时间采集的,由专家对其进行了审查,以获得步行者/小时和进行休闲 PA/小时的个人计数(因变量)。自变量是 NWI 及其组成部分——过境停靠站的接近度、交叉口密度、就业/家庭居住混合度和就业混合度,以及 Walk Score。街区组是分析的层次。线性回归表明,Walk Score、就业/家庭居住混合度和就业混合度与步行者/小时相关(p<.001),而只有就业/家庭居住混合度和就业混合度与休闲 PA/小时相关(p<.001)。NWI 并没有解释 PA 结果变化的很大一部分。对 PA 和步行能力指数的基于地点的检查有利于使用 Walk Score 和 NWI 的修改版本。