title: Public open space, physical activity, urban design and public health: Concepts, methods and research agenda.
abstract: Public open spaces such as parks and green spaces are key built environment elements within neighbourhoods for encouraging a variety of physical activity behaviours. Over the past decade, there has been a burgeoning number of active living research studies examining the influence of public open space on physical activity. However, the evidence shows mixed associations between different aspects of public open space (e.g., proximity, size, quality) and physical activity. These inconsistencies hinder the development of specific evidence-based guidelines for urban designers and policy-makers for (re)designing public open space to encourage physical activity. This paper aims to move this research agenda forward, by identifying key conceptual and methodological issues that may contribute to inconsistencies in research examining relations between public open space and physical activity.
authors.affiliation: McCaughey VicHealth Community Wellbeing Unit, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; Behavioural Epidemiology Laboratory, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. Electronic address: mohammad.koohsari@unimelb.edu.au.
authors.forename: Mohammad Javad
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Koohsari
authors.affiliation: McCaughey VicHealth Community Wellbeing Unit, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. Electronic address: suzanne.mavoa@unimelb.edu.au.
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mavoa
authors.affiliation: McCaughey VicHealth Community Wellbeing Unit, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. Electronic address: k.villanueva@unimelb.edu.au.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Villanueva
authors.affiliation: Spatial Epidemiology and Evaluation Research Group, Sansom Institute for Health Research & School of Population Health, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia; Behavioural Epidemiology Laboratory, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. Electronic address: Takemi.Sugiyama@unisa.edu.au.
authors.forename: Takemi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sugiyama
authors.affiliation: McCaughey VicHealth Community Wellbeing Unit, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. Electronic address: hannah.badland@unimelb.edu.au.
authors.forename: Hannah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Badland
authors.affiliation: Prevention Research Center, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA. Electronic address: ATKACZYN@mailbox.sc.edu.
authors.forename: Andrew T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Kaczynski
authors.affiliation: Behavioural Epidemiology Laboratory, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. Electronic address: Neville.Owen@bakeridi.edu.au.
authors.forename: Neville
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Owen
authors.affiliation: McCaughey VicHealth Community Wellbeing Unit, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. Electronic address: b.giles-corti@unimelb.edu.au.
authors.forename: Billie
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Giles-Corti
mesh_terms: D004779:Environment Design; D015444:Exercise / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D000068316:Parks, Recreational; D011634:Public Health; D012111:Residence Characteristics
keywords: Built environment; Neighbourhood; Parks; Urban form; Walking