Residential greenness and birth outcomes: evaluating the influence of spatially correlated built-environment factors.

Background: Half the world's population lives in urban areas. It is therefore important to identify characteristics of the built environment that are beneficial to human health. Urban greenness has been associated with improvements in a diverse range of health conditions, including birth outcomes; however, few studies have attempted to distinguish potential effects of greenness from those of other spatially correlated exposures related to the built environment.

Youth physical activity and the neighbourhood environment: examining correlates and the role of neighbourhood definition.

The primary objective of this study was to examine relationships between neighbourhood built and social environment characteristics and moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in a sample of children aged 8-11 in Vancouver, British Columbia and the surrounding lower mainland region (n = 366). A secondary objective was to assess how neighbourhood definition influences these relationships, by using measures calculated at multiple buffer sizes: 200, 400, 800 and 1600 m (1 mile). Geographic information systems -software was used to create a broad set of measures of neighbourhood environments.