| dc.description.abstract | Physical activity is becoming one of the major global health risks in today’s society. Statistics show that more people are less physically active. This physical inactivity can lead to multiple serious health issues. Therefore, governments, organisations and institutions are developing different policies and measures in order to improve and stimulate physical activity. Most policies and measures are related to the built environment, because the built environment should provide people with comfortable, safe and attractive spaces to be physical active. However, what is considered as comfortable, safe and attractive spaces can differ per person and/or group. In addition, the available studies on this topic show that the built environment affects the physical activity of people significantly, but that these correlations are not statistically confirmable. These available studies make however no distinction between the effects of different built environment features on the attractiveness of an area for physical activity for different demographic groups.
Therefore, this research has the research objective; Determine how the built environment affects the attractiveness of streets for physical activity for different demographic groups. This research objective implies that this research first of all distinguishes the different relevant demographic groups in relation to physical activity and the built environment. Secondly, it studies which built environment features are relevant to include for what demographic group. This will result in a conceptual framework that shows how the attractiveness of an area for physical activity is affected by which built environment features for which demographic group. Finally, this research applies and demonstrates this framework in the case of Amsterdam. By doing so, per street of Amsterdam and per included demographic group an attractiveness score for physical activity is developed.
For five neighbourhoods of Amsterdam their streets and their corresponding attractiveness scores are analysed in detail. First of all, this analysis shows how the attractiveness scores are developed per demographic group. Secondly, it shows which built environment features are most determining the attractiveness score of an area for physical activity for which demographic group. Finally, this analysis provides insights in where the most determining features are and especially where they are not in a neighbourhood. With these insights of the construction of the attractiveness scores of streets and neighbourhoods, the attractiveness for physical activity of these streets and neighbourhoods can be improved. When it is known where specific built environment features are lacking in a street or area for a specific demographic group, these streets or areas and their built environment features can be specifically targeted so that the attractiveness for physical activity for a specific demographic group can be improved. | |
