Neighborhood land use diversity and physical activity in adjacent parks

Park availability and land use diversity (LUD) are independent environmental correlates of physical activity (PA). This paper investigated whether parks were more likely to be used for PA if surrounded by greater LUD, as well as the interaction of LUD with the number of facilities in the park for predicting use of the park for PA. Facilities in 32 parks from 4 neighborhoods were audited and LUD around each park was calculated based on the residential, commercial, and institutional hectares within a 500 m polygon buffer. Physical activity log data from 384 adults in the 4 neighborhoods were used to determine which parks were used (18) or not used (14) for PA during the study week. Parks were categorized into four groups (e.g., high LUD/high facilities) using the medians for LUD and number of facilities. Unexpectedly, greater LUD within a park's buffer was related to a lesser likelihood of the park being used for PA. Parks with low LUD and a higher number of facilities were most likely to be used for PA. Some elements contributing to higher LUD around parks may deter PA therein (e.g., commercial areas with busy streets), but greater surrounding LUD may be related to PA in parks among younger or older populations or to other non-active park behaviors.