The effects of perceived and objective measures of home-environment on transportation and recreational walking among children

This study explores the relative association of objective and perceived environmental factors with recreational and transportation walking behaviour. Randomly selected parents of students (ages 12-14) at 10 elementary schools (N=1000) located in Istanbul, Turkey, completed questionnaires about their socio-demographic characteristics, neighbourhood environment, and their children’s physical activity. Home-environments (400 and 800 meter buffers) were evaluated through GIS-based land-use, segment-based street connectivity measures, and street-level topography. In addition, detailed field surveys related to pedestrian quality attributes were conducted within home-environments. Logistic regression was used to investigate the relationships between recreation and transportation-related walking and objective and perceived measures of the built form. Findings of the study indicate that both types of walking behaviour are associated with different perceived and objective environmental attributes. More importantly, preliminary results suggest street network connectivity measured at the segment-level is significantly associated with walking behaviours. Thus, it can be argued that modifications to the home-environment may help change hence children’s walking behaviour