Aesthetic Amenities and Safety Hazards Associated with Walking and Bicycling for Transportation in New York City

Neighborhood street amenities such as sidewalk cafés, as well as fewer safety hazards may be associated with walking or active transportation, a study published in a supplement to the Annals of Behavioral Medicine reports.

A telephone survey administered in 2003 in New York City asked: “Over the past 30 days, have you walked or bicycled more than 10 blocks as part of getting to and from work, or school, or to do errands?” Individual and household characteristics were collected from a dataset of 8,034 individuals. Neighborhood characteristics including safety hazards (pedestrian-automobile fatalities and homicide rates); aesthetic amenities (presence of cafés, street tree density, and clean sidewalks); were evaluated to determine their associations with walking or bicycling.

Key Finding:

  • Sidewalk cafés had a positive association with the likelihood of active transport. The pedestrian-auto fatality rate had an unanticipated positive association with more frequent walking or bicycling.

Brisk walking or bicycle riding can help contribute to the recommended levels of physical activity among U.S. adults. The investment toward aesthetic amenities and reducing safety concerns may help increase modes of active transportation.

Introduction to the Active Living Research Supplement

  1. 1 Translating Research to Policy Through Health Impact Assessment in Clark County, Washington
  2. 2 Uneven Playing Field--Effective Strategies to Address Health Inequity Through Active Living Research
  3. 3 Using Evidence to Create Active Communities: Stories from the Field--Policy and Research with Chicago's Child Care Centers
  4. 4 Trends in Presentations of Environmental and Policy Studies Related to Physical Activity, Nutrition, and Obesity at Society of Behavioral Medicine, 1995-2010
  5. 5 Spatial Disparities in the Distribution of Parks and Green Spaces in the USA
  6. 6 Exploring the Distribution of Park Availability, Features, and Quality Across Kansas City, Missouri by Income and Race/Ethnicity
  7. 7 Perceptions of Neighborhood Park Quality
  8. 8 Gender Differences in Self-Report Physical Activity and Park and Recreation Facility Use Among Latinos in Wake County, North Carolina
  9. 9 Beyond Distance: Children's School Travel Mode Choice
  10. 10 The Perceived and Built Environment Surrounding Urban Schools and Physical Activity Among Adolescent Girls
  11. 11 Aesthetic Amenities and Safety Hazards Associated with Walking and Bicycling for Transportation in New York City
  12. 12 Does Neighbourhood Walkability Moderate the Effects of Mass Media Communication Strategies to Promote Regular Physical Activity?
  13. 13 Individual-and Area-Level Disparities in Access to the Road Network, Subway System and a Public Bicycle Share Program on the Island of Montreal, Canada
  14. 14 Effect of Bike Lane Infrastructure Improvements on Ridership in One New Orleans Neighborhood
  15. 15 Using Google Street View to Audit the Built Environment
  16. 16 School Sport Participation Under Two School Sport Policies
  17. 17 Physical Education and Student Activity
  18. 18 District and School Physical Education Policies
  19. 19 Predictors of Moderate-to-Vigorous Physical Activity (MVPA) in African American Young Adolescents
  20. 20 Pathways to Outdoor Recreation, Physical Activity, and Delinquency Among Urban Latino Adolescents
  21. 21 Locations of Joint Physical Activity in Parent-Child Pairs Based on Accelerometer and GPS Monitoring

Explore Related

Most Requested