Table 2.

Original data articles published in 2005–2006 examining the relation between environmental factors and adults’ walking

Reference	Sample	Environmental factor(s) data source		Environmental factor(s) examined	Analyzed geographic unit	Walking metric	Covariates	Results
Besser [5]	3312 transit users out of 105,942 adults in survey	2001 U.S. National Household Travel Survey		Objective population density	Census block group	% walking to/from transit Mean walk time to transit % walking more than 30 mins/day to/from transit	Demos	1,2. Higher transit walking and walk time to transit with higher population density 3. Greater likelihood of walking more than 30 mins to/from transit in highest versus lowest population density; finding not significant in multivariate model with demographics but odds ratio of similar magnitude to bivariate
Bopp [7]	572 adult African- American Methodist Episcopal congregation members	Survey		Composite score of dichotomous coded perceptions of neighborhood: walkable crime present sidewalks street lighting public parks	Individual respondent	Met or did not meet recommendation of walking ≥30 mins ≥5 days/week	Demos, Psych-PA	Odds of meeting walking recommendation not related to environmental score
Burton [10]	1827 adults living in Brisbane, Australia	Survey		Perceived physical features (e.g., footpaths), aesthetics (e.g., cleanliness), traffic, and facilities (e.g., gyms, pools)	Individual respondent	Likelihood of none or some walking activity	Demos, Psych-PA	Environment accounted for 0.6% of the unique variance in walking activity
Cao [11]	1368 adults in Austin, TX area	Survey		Perceived neighborhood characteristics (safety, tree shade, aesthetics, traffic, distance to store, route comfort, store quality); objective factors of above perceived characteristics as well as street characteristics and sidewalk information via GIS databases, maps, aerial photos, site visits	Individual respondent; neighborhood level for objective factors	Strolling frequency in last 30 days Walk to store frequency in last 30 days	Demos, Self-select	Higher strolling frequency related to greater perceived neighborhood safety & shade Higher walking to store frequency related to perceived less traffic and closer proximity to the store, greater perceived local store quality, walk distance to store, route comfort, and pedestrian connections Neither type of walking related to any objective neighborhood factors; walking related to perceived factors after accounting for residential preference
Clifton [15]	Various samples 23,068 U.S. households in 2001 NHTS 7,784 adults in Portland, OR regional activity survey 1,536 households in 2001 NHTS Baltimore add-on		Survey; local land use and street network data	Objective: Density (and perceived sidewalk presence) Pedestrian environment, land use mix, transit access at household level Access to parkland within Census tract (low 0–10% of land area; medium 10–40%, high >40%) Street connectivity, land use mix, and housing density within buffers at census tract level	Census tract or transportation analysis zone for objective factors; individual respondent for perceived factors	Walk trips in last week Walk trips total and by type; percentage of individuals taking walk trips and by type Number of walk trips on travel day Number of walk trips on travel day	Demos	Greater walk trips with increasing housing density (particularly >5000 housing units per square mile); greater odds of walk trip if did not perceive lack of sidewalk as a problem Individual taking at least one and having higher total walk trips and utilitarian walk trips more likely living in urban areas with transit access, good pedestrian environment, and high land use mix areas (highest walkable); similar results when examining yes/no utilitarian walk trip, controlling for demographics for individuals in highest walkable areas or in areas with transit access and good pedestrian environment Greater walk trips with greater park access (men only) Walk trips negatively related to street connectivity, housing unit density (men only), percent vacant (men only), and transit access (not separately for men or women); walk trips positively related to land use mix
Cole [16]	3,392 New South Wales adults		Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Remote and Rural Index	Urban or rural based on distance to goods/services and population density	Health region	Any walking at all in past 2 weeks for transport recreation/exercise	Demos	Higher likelihood of any transport walking at moderate or brisk pace among urban area residents Only among men, higher likelihood of any recreation/exercise walking at moderate or brisk pace among urban area residents
DeBourdeaudhuij[19]	247 adults from Oeiras, Portugal; 279 adults from Ghent, Belgium		Survey	Perceived residential density, land use mix, transit access, pedestrian infrastructure, traffic and crime safety, street connectivity; convenience of physical activity facilities	Individual respondent	Long IPAQ usual week time spent walking/cycling for transport walking for leisure	Demos, Psych-PA	Walking/cycling for transport related to higher land use mix Walking for leisure related to higher availability of sidewalks (Portuguese sample only) and higher land use mix (Belgian sample only) Associations between walking and environmental variables attenuated after accounting for psychosocial factors (e.g., self-efficacy)
Doyle [20]	9,229 U.S. adults from NHANES III		Street network in 35 large counties	Walkability composite of block size, percent of blocks with area <.01 square miles, number of 3-, 4-, 5-way intersections divided by number of road miles	County level	Ever walk 1 mile or more without stopping in the last month	Demos	Higher likelihood of ever walking among residents in counties with higher walkability scores, even after controlling for individual demographic factors (effect stronger for lifelong residents of an area); walkability had stronger influence than crime on likelihood of walking
Duncan [21]	1,215 adult Rockhampton, Queensland residents		Survey; Rockhampton City Council GIS, telephone directory, state’s electric supplier	Perceived proximity to shops/services and open space, aesthetics, footpaths condition, traffic, street lighting; Objective distance to: nearest parkland shopping center pathway network of 300m busy street newsagent Objective measure of registered dogs within certain radii, amount of roadway within 20m of streetlight	Distance from residence	Any recreational walking in past week	Demos, Psych-PA	Higher likelihood of recreational walking related to having poorer perceptions of footpath conditions Higher likelihood of recreational walking related to greater objective proximity of footpath (<.4km from home), middle tertile of number of registered dogs within .8km radius of home, and having a newsagent > 600m away from home
Frank [23]	1,228 adult King County, WA residents		Census, King County parcel-level land use and street data	Walkability composite of net residential density, street connectivity, land use mix, retail floor area ratio	1-km network buffer around residence	Long IPAQ usual week time spent walking/cycling for transport	Demos	Greater time spent walking/cycling for transport related to walkability
Gauvin [25]	Individuals from 112 Montreal census tracts responding to ‘walk to work?’ Census question		Independent rater observation	Activity friendliness (e.g., quality of pedestrian system), safety (e.g., from crime, traffic), density of destinations (e.g., number of people- oriented destinations, variety of destinations)	Econometric street segment evaluation	Percentage of individuals who walk to work	None	Walking to work related to density of destinations (positive), safety (negative), and activity friendliness (negative)
Giles-Corti [26]	1773 adults in Perth, Australia; observations of 772 people using public open space		Public open space observations of environment and users	Public open space proximity size attractiveness (e.g., activities, quality, amenities, safety)	Individual respondent or observed individual	5 or more walking sessions/week totaling 150+ minutes (sufficient walking) 6 or more walking sessions/week totaling 180+ minutes (high walking) Type of public open space used	Demos	Sufficient walking not related to public open space accessibility High walking more likely among individuals’ with shorter distance to highly attractive and large public open space 70% of walkers were using public open space with high attractive scores
Ham [28]	NPTS (Year 1995) and NHTS (2001		Census	Urbanization classification (urban, second city, suburban, town, and rural)	Census block group in which respondent lived	Rate of walk trips (leisure/exercise walk trips excluded) relative to total trips < 1mile	None	Adult walk trips less likely for rural and town residents
Handy [30]	1,627 adults in 4 ‘traditional’ and 4 ‘suburban’ neighborhoods		Survey	Perceived accessibility, physical activity options, safety, socializing, outdoor spaciousness, and attractiveness (and change in these factors for movers) Objective measure of network distance to selected destinations and number of destinations within specified network radii Travel attitudes and neighborhood preferences	Individual respondent	Number of times walked to store in past 30 days Number of times strolled around neighborhood in past 30 days Number of times walked to selected destinations in typical month Likert rating of amount of change in walking	Demos, Self-select	After accounting for significant travel attitudes and neighborhood preferences, walking to store frequency related to perceptions of safety, attractiveness, and proximity and positively related to objectively measured proximity of nearest grocery store and number of business types within 800m radius After accounting for significant travel attitudes and neighborhood preferences, strolling frequency related to perceived neighborhood attractiveness Higher rate of walking to each destination type among ‘traditional’ neighborhood residents Smaller decrease or larger increase in walking positively related to minimum distance to a bank (unex), number of banks within 800m, and number of types of businesses within 1600m; negatively related to current spaciousness perception
Hoehner [34]	1,053 adults in St. Louis, MO (“low- walkable” city) and Savannah, GA (“high- walkable” city)		Survey; street segment audits (objective)	Perceived and objective land use mix, proximity of recreational facilities, active transport infrastructure (e.g., sidewalks present), transit access, traffic safety, aesthetics, crime safety	Street segment audit information aggregated into 400m buffers around respondents’ residence	Any versus no active transport in past 7 days Met/did not meet 150+ minutes of activity through active transport only recommendation	Demos	Active transport likelihood increased with greater perceived and objective land use mix, objective transit access, and objective pedestrian comfort amenities (e.g., tree, benches); decreased likelihood with greater objective sidewalk quality and objective neighborhood cleanliness Recommended walking levels model had same significant environmental factors, but pedestrian comfort amenities was not a significant correlate
Hooker [35]	1,165 adults in 21 census tracts in a rural South Carolina county		Survey	Perceived traffic, street light quality, unattended dogs, crime safety, public recreation facility safety	Individual respondents asked to consider neighborhood as within ½ mile or 10- minute walk from home	Walking (regular walking) or not walking at least 150 minutes per week	Demos	Regular walking likelihood was associated with greater perceived neighborhood safety; regular walking likelihood was lower in moderate traffic versus heavy traffic neighborhoods (both findings only present among White, not African-American, samples)
Khattak [40]	310 adults from single- family high income households in two neighborhoods in North Carolina		Unclear	Neighborhoods differed on objective residential density, street connectivity, and commercial space (higher = neo- traditional neighborhood; lower = conventional neighborhood)	Neighborhood	Walk trips	Demos, self-select	Higher percentage of trips were walk trips in the neo- traditional (17.2%) versus conventional (7.3%) neighborhood
Krizek [41]	1,653 adults in Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN		Employment records	Objective network proximity to nearest neighborhood retail establishments	Individual resident	Walk trips	Demos	Walk trips were more likely among households <200 meters from a retail establishment than households ≥ 600 meters away from one; finding diminished when controlling for demographic factors, but walk trips still more than twice as likely among retail proximal households
Lee [43]	438 adults in Seattle, WA		Survey; parcel-level and street network GIS	Many objective variables, including network proximity to closest individual and “combination” of destinations, land use mix, residential density, pedestrian infrastructure, route directness and topography; perceived environmental variable included neighborhood type (residential versus mixed residential/commercial), aesthetics, and traffic	Individual resident (usually with 1km buffer); spatial sampling	Any transportation and/or recreation walk trips (walker by type versus non-walker) in a usual week No, moderate (1–4 times), or frequent (5 or more times) walking per week for: transportation recreation (all comparisons relative to non- walker)	Demos, self-select	1a. More likely to be both a transportation and recreation walker if perceive neighborhood as mixed, area has objectively lower residential density, proximity to daycare and a bank, and farther away from an office and combination of office and other land uses mixed, and higher within-parcel density 1b. More likely to be a recreation walker if perceive area as mixed, area has objectively lower residential density, greater slope, closer to daycare, farther away from an office and the combination of office and other land uses mixed 1c. More likely to be a transportation walker if perceive area as mixed, area has objectively lower residential density, closer to a bank, and farther away from the combination of office and other land uses mixed 2a. Moderate transportation walkers more likely to perceive area as mixed, have objectively less route directness to closest church, and are closer to bank 2b. Frequent transportation walkers have lesser slope, greater objective proximity to a grocery store, restaurant, post office, and bank, and higher parcel density 3a. Moderate recreation walkers more likely to perceive positive area aesthetics, have objective greater slope, closer to day care, and less route directness to an office 3b. Frequent recreation walkers more likely to perceive positive area aesthetics, have greater objective sidewalk length, greater slope, and closer to daycare
Lee [42], Vernez Moudon [65]	608 adults in King County, WA		Survey; parcel-level and street network GIS	943 objective environmental variables, including network and airplane proximity to closest individual and “combinations” of destinations, destination counts and percentages, residential density, pedestrian infrastructure, route directness, traffic, and topography; perceived presence of destinations	Individual resident; spatial sampling to assess Destinations Distance Density Route	Odds of sufficient (>150 mins) versus moderate (1–149 minutes) versus non- walkers	Demos	243 objective environmental variables significant at bivariate level; After controlling for demographic and perceived environment factors, more walking related to: Fewer grocery stores, fewer education land uses, more grocery + restaurant + retail combinations within 1 km airline; more destinations within the nearest church + school combination; smaller size of the closest office only combination Shorter airline distance to closest grocery store, eating/drinking place, shorter network distance to closest bank and closest grocery + restaurant + retail combination; longer network distance to the closest offices and longer airplane distance to the closest office + mixed use combination; shorter mean network distance between destinations within the closest offices Higher residential density within parcel; higher residential density within 1 km buffer (comparison of sufficient versus moderate walking), but lower residential density within airline 1 km buffer (comparison of moderate versus no walking) More direct route to the closest grocery store; more and less direct route to the closest school; longer total sidewalk length in 1km airline buffer; smaller size of household block within airline buffer
Li [46]	577 adults 65+ years old in 56 neighborhoods in Portland, OR		Survey; existing geographical databases from regional land information system	Objective number of residential households, places of employment, street intersections; total green and open spaces for recreation (area); perceived proximity to local recreational facilities, walking and traffic safety, and number of nearby recreational facilities	Neighborhood; multi-level analysis examining effects at the level of: neighborhood resident	Likert rating of frequency of walking activity in neighborhood	None	Higher walking activity at neighborhood level related to higher employment place and residential household density, more street intersections, and more green and open space Higher walking activity at resident level related to more neighborhood recreational facilities and better walking safety; higher walking activity among residents reporting more traffic safety in neighborhoods with more street intersections (interaction)
Li [45]	303 adults 65+ years old in 28 neighborhoods in Portland, OR		Survey	Perceived recreation facility availability and safety	Individual respondent aggregated to neighborhood level	Likert rating of frequency of walking and related physical activity in neighborhood measured 4 times over 1 year	Demos; Psych-PA	Greater recreation availability and safety were related to lesser declines in neighborhood-level walking
Plaut [55]	About 41,000 working adults in the 2001 American Housing Survey		Survey	Perceived location within metropolitan statistical area (MSA), living near green space, living near commercial properties	Individual respondent	Walk versus car commuting to work	Demos	Walking to work more likely if living within central city of MSA (among renters only) and less likely in secondary urban and rural areas of MSA; walking to work more likely if commercial properties nearby
Reed [56]	1,148 adults in 21 census tracts in Sumter County, SC		Survey	Perceived sidewalk presence	Neighborhood defined as ½ mile radius or 10 min drive from home	Regular (≥150 mins), irregular (1–149 mins), or no walking per week	Demos	Irregular walkers more likely to report presence of sidewalks than non-walkers; finding not significant in separate models based on race
Rutt [57]	452 adults in El Paso, TX		Aerial photography, Census, local and commercial databases, and yellow pages	Objective sidewalk	¼ mile (sidewalks) and 2.5 mile (PA facilities) radius of respondent’s home; shortest network distance	Walking for exercise in the past month: frequency duration total time	Demos; Psych-PA	Higher walking frequency among individuals doing at least some walking was related to more commercial land uses in neighborhood and fewer number of physical activity facilities Walking duration not related to any environmental variables Total time walking was higher in the whole sample in areas with less commercial land use; total time walking among individuals doing at least some walking was higher in areas with fewer physical activity facilities
Spence [61]	3,144 Canadians who visited the Canada on the Move website		Survey	Perceived land use mix, sidewalk presence, crime safety, recreation availability, aesthetics, street connectivity	Individual respondent	Sufficient walking in the past week (5 or more days of at least 30 minutes of walking per day)	Demos	Sufficient walking more likely among individuals reporting greater neighborhood aesthetics and land use mix, especially among women
Suminski [62]	474 adults in a large midwestern U.S. metropolitan area		Interview	Perceived route functionality (e.g., sidewalk condition), traffic and crime safety, aesthetics, and destinations (e.g., shops) to walk to in neighborhood	Individual respondent	In the past 7 days, within-neighborhood transportation walking exercise walking walking a dog	Demos	Transportation walking more likely among women reporting moderate versus low walk destinations; transportation walking less likely among men reporting moderate route functionality and aesthetics compared to low levels of these factors 2&3. Exercise and dog walking more likely among women reporting moderate versus low neighborhood safety
Van Lenthe [64]	8,767 adults in 78 neighborhoods in Eindhoven, Netherlands		Local professionalperceptions of neighborhood characteristics	Perceived (by professionals) attractiveness, green space quality, traffic noise, proximity to food shops, crime safety	Neighborhood	< (‘almost never walking’) or >15 mins per day walking or cycling to shops or work	Demos	Greater walking likelihood associated with less traffic noise (for adults ≤49 years old) and greater proximity to food shops (for adults >49 years old and particularly in lower socioeconomic neighborhoods)
Zlot [66]	Adults from 34 MSAs present in the U.S. 1996 and 1998 BRFSS and 1995 NPTS		Trust for Public Land data	Parkland acreage as a percentage of city area	City	Rates of walking or biking for recreation in past month (at MSA level) Rates of walking or biking for transportation in the past week (at city level)	None	Recreational walk/bike rates not related to parkland acreage Walk/bike for transportation related to parkland acreage

Note. The walking metric for each study is specified to reflect how the investigators used the walking outcome in analyses; where applicable, the enumerated different walking metrics are linked to their corresponding number in the results.