title: Older Adults' Outdoor Walking: Inequalities in Neighbourhood Safety, Pedestrian Infrastructure and Aesthetics.
abstract: Older adults living in high-deprivation areas walk less than those living in low-deprivation areas. Previous research has shown that older adults' outdoor walking levels are related to the neighbourhood built environment. This study examines inequalities in perceived built environment attributes (i.e., safety, pedestrian infrastructure and aesthetics) and their possible influences on disparities in older adults' outdoor walking levels in low- and high-deprivation areas of Birmingham, United Kingdom. It applied a mixed-method approach, included 173 participants (65 years and over), used GPS technology to measure outdoor walking levels, used questionnaires (for all participants) and conducted walking interviews (with a sub-sample) to collect data on perceived neighbourhood built environment attributes. The results show inequalities in perceived neighbourhood safety, pedestrian infrastructure and aesthetics in high- versus low-deprivation areas and demonstrate that they may influence disparities in participants' outdoor walking levels. Improvements of perceived neighbourhood safety, pedestrian infrastructure and aesthetic in high-deprivation areas are encouraged.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, PO Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands. r.zandieh@utwente.nl.
authors.forename: Razieh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zandieh
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, PO Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands. j.martinez@utwente.nl.
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Martinez
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, PO Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands. j.flacke@utwente.nl.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Flacke
authors.affiliation: School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK. p.i.jones@bham.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Phil
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, PO Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands. m.f.a.m.vanmaarseveen@utwente.nl.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: van Maarseveen
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004777:Environment; D004779:Environment Design; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010465:Perception; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012449:Safety; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom; D016138:Walking / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: GPS; built environment; deprivation; inequalities; older adults; perception; physical activity; walking