New Urbanism: Effects on

1
New Urbanism Effects on Walking Bicycling
Physical Activity
UNC Chapel Hill Department of City and Regional
Planning
Asad J. Khattak, Ph.D. Daniel A. Rodríguez Ph.D.
Abstract
Motivation
By limiting the opportunities for being
physically active in every day life, contemporary
urban areas might play a role in encouraging
sedentary lifestyles. To explore this issue,
recent research has focused on how urban design
correlates with physical activity for
transportation and recreation. However, few
studies have examined the correlates of
transportation and recreational physical
activity, and even fewer have done so in two
different community design contexts. Two
neighborhoods in Orange County, NC were selected
based on their 1) similarity in terms of
property values, income levels of residents, and
age of neighborhood and 2) substantial
differences in design, density, diversity of land
uses, transit availability and walkability.
Perhaps the most salient difference is their
design One neighborhood is a conventional
suburban development, while the other is a
new-urbanist development. The results show that
while there is no statistical difference in
physical activity across neighborhood types, the
location of physical activity differs. In the
new-urbanist neighborhood, there is greater
physical activity in the neighborhood but less
physical activity in the house. New-urbanist
residents are also more likely to engage in
physical activity for utilitarian and
recreational travel.

• To study the impact of new-urbanist developments
  on
• Physical activity duration
• Physical activity location
• Utilitarian vs. recreational travel

Methodology

• All heads of household received a mail-back
  survey questionnaire that collected information
  on self-reported walking and bicycling activity,
  socio-demographic characteristics, and individual
  preferences for various community design
  attributes

Site Location
Conventional Neighborhoods
Chapel Hill
Carrboro
New-Urbanist Neighborhood
2
Results
Results (cont.)
Physical activity duration per week from
household survey (hours)1
Utilitarian vs recreational physical activity
from travel diaries (hours)1

• No statistical difference between conventional
  and new-urbanist homes for duration of moderate,
  vigorous, and total physical activity

Location of physical activity from household
survey (hours)1

• New-urbanist household complete more utilitarian
  trips and new-urbanist single-family household
  complete more recreational trips
• New-urbanist single-family household heads are
  more physically active for utilitarian and
  recreational travel (hours)

Impact of neighborhood type on total physical
activity1
1 N397 household heads

• New-urbanist neighborhoods are not associated
  with greater physical activity, but

Impact of neighborhood type on physical activity
in the neighborhood1

• Compared to conventional single-family homes
• New-urbanist household heads are less physically
  active in their homes (p0.05 for multi-family
  homes)
• New-urbanist household heads are more physically
  active within the neighborhood. (p0.05)

1 N397 household heads

• . are associated with greater neighborhood-based
  physical activity

Impacts of physical activity on Body-Mass Index
(BMI)

• New-urbanist household heads substitute
  home-based and external-based physical activity
  for neighborhood-based physical activity

1 N387 household heads

• Physical activity is associated with lower BMI

Utilitarian vs recreational physical activity
from household survey (hours)1
Conclusion

• New-urbanist neighborhoods do not appear to be
  associated with greater levels of total physical
  activity
• However, heads of household in new-urbanist
  neighborhoods substitute home-based and external
  physical activity for neighborhood-based physical
  activity
• New-urbanist neighborhood residents complete more
  utilitarian and recreational physical activity
  from travel

• New-urbanist household heads complete more
  utilitarian trips but the same number of
  recreational trips
• New-urbanist single-family household heads are
  more physically active for utilitarian travel
  (hours)
• New-urbanist household heads are more physically
  active for recreational travel (hours)