Exploring associations between urban green, street design and walking: Results from the Greater London boroughs

Abstract

In recent years, a series of studies have highlighted the positive effects of urban green on individual activity behaviour and health. In this paper, we examine salutogenic environment effects of urban green upon walking behaviour and how such effects are mediated by built environment configuration and street-level physical accessibility. The dwelling locations of N = 15,354 respondents of the London Travel Demand Survey were geocoded and individual walking behaviour was extracted from the travel diary. A 0.5-m resolution normalized difference vegetation (NDVI) index derived from spectral reflectance measurements in remotely sensed colour infrared data was employed as an objective measure of greenness, while density of street trees acted as proxy of perceived environmental quality in street corridors. A network model of street-level physical accessibility was developed using spatial Design Network Analysis (sDNA). Logistic regression models reported a significant association of odds of walking with density of street trees and street-level betweenness (a measure of street network connectivity), while sensitivity analyses with continuous regression models for participants doing some walking indicated beneficial associations of distance walked with NDVI greenness and street trees. The results illustrate the necessity for targeted intervention strategies in activity-friendly planning via greening and optimized physical design of urban built environments.