The impact of a temporary recurrent street closure on physical activity in New York City.

At least 70 US cities have now introduced ciclovías-large-scale street closures to promote physical activity-joining numerous other cities worldwide that have implemented ciclovías in efforts to improve population health. We assessed the impact of Summer Streets, a New York City program in which 6.9 contiguous miles of urban streets were closed to traffic and opened for walking, cycling, and group activities, such as dancing and yoga, on population physical activity levels.

Cycling in the city: an in-depth examination of bicycle lane use in a low-income urban neighborhood.

Background: Regular physical activity such as biking can help prevent obesity and chronic disease. Improvements in cycling infrastructure are associated with higher overall cycling rates, but less is known about bike lane utilization in low-income urban neighborhoods.

Methods: During the summer of 2009, 4 Central Brooklyn streets with bicycle lanes were studied using camcorders to record for a total of 40 hours.

Promoting routine stair use: evaluating the impact of a stair prompt across buildings.

Background: Although studies have demonstrated that stair prompts are associated with increased physical activity, many were conducted in low-rise buildings over a period of weeks and did not differentiate between stair climbing and descent.

Purpose: This study evaluated the impact of a prompt across different building types, and on stair climbing versus descent over several months.

Methods: In 2008-2009, stair and elevator trips were observed and analyzed at three buildings in New York City before and after the posting of a prompt stating "Burn Calories, Not Electricity" (total observations=18,462).