Association between residential self-selection and non-residential built environment exposures

Area of Science:

• Urban planning
• Public health
• Environmental psychology

Background:

• Studies on the built environment and physical activity often overlook individual self-selection into specific environments.
• The relationship between preferences for walkable residential areas and exposure to walkable non-residential spaces remains unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if preferences for walkable residential neighborhoods predict exposure to walkable non-residential environments.
• To determine if these preferences confound the association between non-residential walkability and physical activity.

Main Methods:

• Surveyed 9783 university students in Toronto, Canada.
• Assessed self-reported preferences for neighborhood walkability.
• Measured exposure to walkable non-residential environments and time spent walking.

Main Results:

• A significant positive association was found between residential walkability preferences and non-residential walkability exposure (β = 0.42).
• These preferences confounded the relationship between non-residential walkability and time spent walking, reducing the observed association by 10.5%.

Conclusions:

• Self-selection into preferred environments is a critical factor in built environment research.
• Future studies must account for individual preferences to accurately assess the impact of the built environment on physical activity.