Abstract:
There is increasing recognition of the role the physical environment, particularly in urban areas, plays in influencing health behaviours such as physical activity. With obesity rates steadily increasing worldwide and in New Zealand, where one in four are now identified as obese, health researchers, urban planners and health policy makers alike are interested in the potential ways we can modify the built environment to promote healthy behaviours and achieve better population and individual health outcomes. A recent trend in the literature is investigating the walkability of neighbourhoods or urban environments to understand physical activity patterns. However, research to date has largely been limited to understanding the urban environment in terms of its walkability, which is just one form of active transport. There has been limited research that has focused on the other modes of transport used in the daily routines of individuals, such as cycling, taking public transport or driving a car. The objective of this paper is to conduct a systematic review of the literature on the indices used that assess the influence of transport modes on physical activity in urban environments. The particular aspects of the urban environment that influence physical activity and the methods utilised will be compared and contrasted. The most important features that influence walking, cycling, public transport and car use will be identified, along with the most appropriate methods in order to allow the creation of a coarser set of indices for two urban centres in NZ.