Safely active mobility for urban baby boomers: The role of neighborhood design
Many urban designers and researchers argue that walkable urban environments can encourage older residents’ walking activities that benefit their physical health. However, walking also exposes older adults to safety risks, including due to traffic accidents. This study seeks to reveal the interaction...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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Elsevier
2017
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/106277 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9087-5975 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3581-7830 |
| _version_ | 1811072674996158464 |
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| author | Lee, Jae Seung Zegras, Pericles C Ben-Joseph, Eran |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning Lee, Jae Seung Zegras, Pericles C Ben-Joseph, Eran |
| author_sort | Lee, Jae Seung |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Many urban designers and researchers argue that walkable urban environments can encourage older residents’ walking activities that benefit their physical health. However, walking also exposes older adults to safety risks, including due to traffic accidents. This study seeks to reveal the interactions between urban form and safety affecting urban baby boomers’ walking behavior. Spatial analysis reveals traffic collision patterns in urban Boston neighborhoods, detecting hotspots around activity centers. Structural equation modeling, estimated on individual data collected from a mail-back survey and utilizing numerous measures of neighborhood urban form and accessibility, then attempts to reveal the causal, interacting relationships between neighborhood-level urban form, traffic crashes, and baby boomers’ walking behavior. The analysis identifies significant effects of walkable urban forms (e.g., mixed use, well-connected streets, and good access to potential destinations) on older adults’ walking. Yet, accessibility to retail, as well as traffic speed and volume, are positively associated with the traffic collision frequency. The results suggest more cautious approaches may be necessary for designing urban spaces for walkability and also call into question prescriptions based on the “safety in numbers” hypothesis. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T09:10:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/106277 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T09:10:03Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1062772022-09-26T10:54:38Z Safely active mobility for urban baby boomers: The role of neighborhood design Lee, Jae Seung Zegras, Pericles C Ben-Joseph, Eran Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning Zegras, P. Christopher Lee, Jae Seung Zegras, Pericles C Ben-Joseph, Eran Many urban designers and researchers argue that walkable urban environments can encourage older residents’ walking activities that benefit their physical health. However, walking also exposes older adults to safety risks, including due to traffic accidents. This study seeks to reveal the interactions between urban form and safety affecting urban baby boomers’ walking behavior. Spatial analysis reveals traffic collision patterns in urban Boston neighborhoods, detecting hotspots around activity centers. Structural equation modeling, estimated on individual data collected from a mail-back survey and utilizing numerous measures of neighborhood urban form and accessibility, then attempts to reveal the causal, interacting relationships between neighborhood-level urban form, traffic crashes, and baby boomers’ walking behavior. The analysis identifies significant effects of walkable urban forms (e.g., mixed use, well-connected streets, and good access to potential destinations) on older adults’ walking. Yet, accessibility to retail, as well as traffic speed and volume, are positively associated with the traffic collision frequency. The results suggest more cautious approaches may be necessary for designing urban spaces for walkability and also call into question prescriptions based on the “safety in numbers” hypothesis. 2017-01-06T20:57:30Z 2017-01-06T20:57:30Z 2013-12 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 00014575 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/106277 Lee, Jae Seung, P. Christopher Zegras, and Eran Ben-Joseph. “Safely Active Mobility for Urban Baby Boomers: The Role of Neighborhood Design.” Accident Analysis & Prevention 61 (2013): 153–166. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9087-5975 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3581-7830 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2013.05.008 Accident Analysis & Prevention Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ application/pdf Elsevier Prof. Zegras via Peter Cohn |
| spellingShingle | Lee, Jae Seung Zegras, Pericles C Ben-Joseph, Eran Safely active mobility for urban baby boomers: The role of neighborhood design |
| title | Safely active mobility for urban baby boomers: The role of neighborhood design |
| title_full | Safely active mobility for urban baby boomers: The role of neighborhood design |
| title_fullStr | Safely active mobility for urban baby boomers: The role of neighborhood design |
| title_full_unstemmed | Safely active mobility for urban baby boomers: The role of neighborhood design |
| title_short | Safely active mobility for urban baby boomers: The role of neighborhood design |
| title_sort | safely active mobility for urban baby boomers the role of neighborhood design |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/106277 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9087-5975 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3581-7830 |
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