Can a liveable city be a healthy city, now and into the future?

City planning and infrastructure can influence the social determinants of health, the liveability of cities and the physical and mental health of city residents. This article defines these concepts and discusses how city planning can help in mitigating COVID-19 transmission, and support health by accommodating active transport (i.e.

Physical activity-related health and economic benefits of building walkable neighbourhoods: a modelled comparison between brownfield and greenfield developments.

Background: A consensus is emerging in the literature that urban form can impact health by either facilitating or deterring physical activity (PA). However, there is a lack of evidence measuring population health and the economic benefits relating to alternative urban forms. We examined the issue of housing people within two distinct types of urban development forms: a medium-density brownfield development in an established area with existing amenities (e.

Land use proportion and walking: Application of isometric substitution analysis.

Entropy measures of land use mix are a commonly used component of walkability. However, they present methodological challenges, and studies on their associations with walking have produced mixed findings. This study examined associations of the proportion of discrete land uses with walking, using isometric substitution models that take the complementary nature of land use proportions into account.

Designing healthy communities: creating evidence on metrics for built environment features associated with walkable neighbourhood activity centres.

Background: Evidence-based metrics are needed to inform urban policy to create healthy walkable communities. Most active living research has developed metrics of the environment around residential addresses, ignoring other important walking locations. Therefore, this study examined: metrics for built environment features surrounding local shopping centres, (known in Melbourne, Australia as neighbourhood activity centres (NACs) which are typically anchored by a supermarket); the association between NACs and transport walking; and, policy compliance for supermarket provision.

Quality of Public Open Spaces and Recreational Walking.

Objectives: We examined associations between specific public open space (POS) attributes and recreational walking to local POS.

Methods: Between October 2004 and December 2006, 1465 adults of the RESIDential Environments Project, conducted in Perth, Australia, reported whether they walk to a POS for recreation. For each participant, we identified all open spaces larger than 0.