Living Close to Natural Outdoor Environments in Four European
Cities: Adults' Contact with the Environments and Physical
Activity
- Publication date
- Publisher
- 'MDPI AG'
Abstract
This study investigated whether residential availability of
natural outdoor environments (NOE) was associated with contact
with NOE, overall physical activity and physical activity in
NOE, in four different European cities using objective measures.
A nested cross-sectional study was conducted in Barcelona
(Spain); Stoke-on-Trent (United Kingdom); Doetinchem (The
Netherlands); and Kaunas (Lithuania). Smartphones were used to
collect information on the location and physical activity
(overall and NOE) of around 100 residents of each city over
seven days. We used Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to
determine residential NOE availability (presence/absence of NOE
within 300 m buffer from residence), contact with NOE (time
spent in NOE), overall PA (total physical activity), NOE PA
(total physical activity in NOE). Potential effect modifiers
were investigated. Participants spent around 40 min in NOE and
80 min doing overall PA daily, of which 11% was in NOE. Having
residential NOE availability was consistently linked with higher
NOE contact during weekdays, but not to overall PA. Having
residential NOE availability was related to NOE PA, especially
for our Barcelona participants, people that lived in a city with
low NOE availability