Using GPS to measure the interaction between individuals and their neighbourhood
bookPart
There has been an increasing focus on examining the relationship between neigh-bourhood built environment and health and health behaviours. This is mainly due to the potential of environmental interventions for having a sustained impact on entire population groups rather than a short-term impact on individuals (Giles-Corti et al. 2005). Moreover, environmental interventions may influence population groups that are hard to reach with health education programmes, such as those with lower edu-cation levels, lower incomes and language barriers (Swinburn et al. 1999). The relationship between where you live and health has long been recognised (Kawachi and Berkman 2003; Burton et al. 2011). In the past decade, the focus has been on the relationship between neighbourhood environment and physical activity to shed light on the potential drivers of the current overweight epidemic. Interest in the relation between built environment and physical activity has increased, mainly because many prevention and intervention strategies have had limited effect at population level (American Journal of Preventive Medicine 1998; Dishman and Buckworth 1996; Marcus et al. 2000; Dollman et al. 2005; McDonald 2007; Ooijendijk et al. 2008). Moreover, interest in this relationship has been stimulated by social—ecological models of health, which posit that changes in the natural and built environment that encourage physically active lifestyles may be as important as interventions at the individual or social level (Sallis et al. 2006; Brownson et al. 2009; Saelens et al. 2003; Giles-Corti and King 2009).
TNO Identifier
843800
ISBN
978-1-4614-6671-0
Publisher
Springer
Source title
Neighbourhood Structure and Health Promotion
Place of publication
Heidelberg
Pages
153-175
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