Associating the Visual Built Environment with Active Transport: An Analytical Approach Using Integrated Individual Behavior Data and Street Imagery.
Active transport (AT) is a crucial source of health-enhancing physical activity (PA), and the visual built environment (VBE) can significantly influence people's AT decisions. Street view imagery (SVI) has become widely used for large-scale measurement of the VBE. Previous SVI research, however, has...
| Published in: | Annals of the American Association of Geographers Vol. 116; no. 4; pp. 946 - 965 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
| Format: | Article |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
2026
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=193017423&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 193017423 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 24694452 JRMH jtl: Annals of the American Association of Geographers issn: 24694452 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: 2026 vid: 116 iid: 4 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 193017423 10.1080/24694452.2025.2599844 ppf: 946 ppct: 19 formats: tig: atl: Associating the Visual Built Environment with Active Transport: An Analytical Approach Using Integrated Individual Behavior Data and Street Imagery. aug: au: Zhou, Hanlin Wang, Jue Wilson, Kathi Wu, Devin Yongzhao Ge, Haoxuan affil: Department of Geography, Sustainability, Community, and Urban Studies, University of Connecticut, USA Department of Geography, Geomatics, and Environment, University of Toronto Mississauga, Canada Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto, Canada su: Mississauga (Ont.) Canada Urban planning Physical activity Environmental exposure Panoramas Physical mobility Urban landscape architecture sug: subj: Urban planning Mississauga (Ont.) Canada Administration of Urban Planning and Community and Rural Development Land Subdivision Physical activity Environmental exposure Panoramas Physical mobility Urban landscape architecture ab: Active transport (AT) is a crucial source of health-enhancing physical activity (PA), and the visual built environment (VBE) can significantly influence people's AT decisions. Street view imagery (SVI) has become widely used for large-scale measurement of the VBE. Previous SVI research, however, has often either focused on residential neighborhoods instead of actual travel routes or has focused on travel modes while neglecting the PA intensity in travel for further health promotion exploration. To address this gap, our study integrates route-specific SVI-derived VBE exposures with objectively measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in AT. We collected one week of Global Positioning System trajectories and accelerometer data from more than 100 participants in Mississauga, Canada, to quantify the duration of MVPA during AT. Negative binomial models are used to analyze the association between MVPA duration and VBE features. Results show that higher proportions of road and vertical greenness (e.g., trees) along AT routes are significantly and positively associated with MVPA duration, whereas horizontal greenness (e.g., grass) is not. Results also underscore the importance of uninterrupted movement, as roads are positively associated with MVPA, whereas traffic lights are negatively associated. These findings provide specific guidance for urban planners, suggesting that prioritizing street trees over other green spaces and designing infrastructure that facilitates continuous movement can effectively promote health-enhancing PA in car-dependent cities. Additionally, the integrated analytical framework of this study is a generalizable contribution to geospatial health science. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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