title: Walk-friendly suburbs for older adults? Exploring the enablers and barriers to walking in a large suburban municipality in Canada.
abstract: The neighbourhood environment may enable active aging by allowing the integration of walking into an older adult's daily routine. This study explores the relationship between the neighbourhood built environment and walking among a small group of older adults in a large suburban municipality in Canada. In-depth interviews using a photo-voice approach revealed that the participants walked largely to accumulated physical activity. Older adults who lived in either conventional residential or condominium neighbourhoods discussed poor traffic conditions and lack of benches/trees/places as barriers, and proximity to parks and access to shops as enablers to walking. Poor sidewalk quality, absence of street lights and personal safety concerns were major barriers to walking only for those living in suburban residential neighbourhoods. Our results indicate that high quality- and safe walking infrastructure may facilitate walking for physical activity among older adults living in the suburban communities.
authors.affiliation: School of Urban and Regional Planning, Ryerson University, 105 Bond Street, Toronto, Ontario M5B 1Y3, Canada. Electronic address: raktim.mitra@ryerson.ca.
authors.forename: Raktim
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mitra
authors.affiliation: School of Urban and Regional Planning, Ryerson University, 105 Bond Street, Toronto, Ontario M5B 1Y3, Canada.
authors.forename: Herthana
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Siva
authors.affiliation: School of Urban and Regional Planning, Ryerson University, 105 Bond Street, Toronto, Ontario M5B 1Y3, Canada.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kehler
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002170:Canada; D002958:City Planning; D004779:Environment Design / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D013383:Suburban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016138:Walking / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Active aging; Neighbourhood; Photo-voice; Physical activity; Qualitative GIS; Suburban