How much are built environments changing, and where?: Patterns of change by neighborhood sociodemographic characteristics across seven U.S. metropolitan areas
Introduction
Numerous reviews have documented associations of multiple attributes of the built environment, especially neighborhood walkability (defined by residential density, proximity of shops and services, and street connectivity) with active transport and physical activity (Bauman and Bull, 2007, Frank et al., 2005, Gebel et al., 2007, Owen et al., 2004, Rossen and Pollack, 2012, Saelens and Handy, 2008, Transportation Research Board, 2005). Investments in the built environment may be an important point of intervention for increasing physical activity and health across broad populations. Specifically, longitudinal increases in destinations to walk to or be social at have been associated with increased walking (Hirsch et al., 2014a, Hirsch et al., 2014b), higher physical activity (Ranchod et al., 2014), and decreased obesity (Hirsch et al., 2014a, Hirsch et al., 2014b). Indeed, since the mid-1990s a number of scientific, political, and popular movements have emerged that support change in the built environment, including the National Complete Streets Coalition (http://www.completestreets.org), Smart Growth America (http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org), Transportation for America (http://t4america.org), Robert Wood Johnson Active Living Research (http://www.activelivingresearch.org), and Bikes Belong Coalition (http://www.bikesbelong.org). In September 2015, the U.S. Surgeon General's Call to Action, “Step It Up,” identified community design and the creation of walkable communities, where physical activity is not only easier but also more engaging, as a priority for preventing chronic disease (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2015). However, little information exists on how built environments may be changing or the factors associated with these changes.
Since the creation of walkable communities entails modifications of large physical structures and neighborhood layouts, this process may take a long period of time. While some changes to built environment features, such as street networks and transportation systems, require large-scale infrastructure development occurring over numerous decades, other features, such as density of destinations (e.g. places to walk to, socialize at, or exercise in) and zoning of land-uses, may be more dynamic or amenable to change. As such, these more dynamic features may reflect recent efforts by communities to increase walkability. By examining which neighborhood built environment features have experienced change in recent decades, we may gain a better understanding of how our communities are transforming into more walkable neighborhoods. Additionally, understanding whether change is occurring is important to contextualize changes we may see in physical activity and health outcomes in upcoming years.
Furthermore, identifying where change is occurring will have important implications for health promotion. Specifically, knowing the sociodemographic characteristics of neighborhoods experiencing large improvements in the built environment will allow a better comprehension of the way the built environment might play into health equity. If changes in the built environment are not implemented equally, they may have large implications for health behavior and health disparities. Neighborhood sociodemographic characteristics may influence individual behavior through unequal distribution of physical environment characteristics (Cerin et al., 2009). Some evidence supports this hypothesis, indicating low-income and minority neighborhoods have worse aesthetics or safety (Giles-Corti and Donovan, 2002, Lovasi et al., 2009, Sallis et al., 2011, Zhu and Lee, 2008), and fewer opportunities for physical activity (Abercrombie et al., 2008, Estabrooks et al., 2003, Gordon-Larsen et al., 2006, Powell et al., 2006). Little is known about whether changes in the built environment are also associated with neighborhood sociodemographic characteristics. Such associations may contribute to either equalizing conditions across neighborhoods or to magnifying existing inequalities over time.
To provide critical knowledge of where and how the built environment is changing, this paper aims to 1) identify changes in the built environment in neighborhoods and 2) investigate associations between high levels of built environment change and sociodemographic characteristics. We describe changes in the built environment using zoned land-use codes and destinations between 2000 and 2010 in a sample of neighborhoods (n = 8383 census tracts) from seven U.S. metropolitan areas. Using both linear models and spatial methods, we investigate whether baseline levels of, and changes in, four neighborhood sociodemographics (percent over 65, percent Non-Hispanic white, median household income, and percent without a vehicle) are associated with changes in the built environment.
Section snippets
Sample
Census tracts were used to delineate neighborhoods and study boundaries were drawn based on land-use data availability by county (Supplemental Fig. S1). Census tracts were excluded if they were missing information on built environment or sociodemographic variables (n = 164, 1.9%). The final sample consists of 8383 census tracts from seven U.S. metropolitan areas: Los Angeles, CA (n = 3325); Chicago, IL (n = 1798); Baltimore, MD (n = 399); St. Paul, MN (n = 685); Hinds County, MS (n = 63);
Built environment and neighborhood sociodemographic characteristics
The size of census tracts varied by study area, ranging from a median of 17.7 ha in NY to 870.6 ha in NC, with an average of 4340 people per tract (Table 1). Across all study areas, census tracts had an average of 19.2 destinations for social engagement, 12.2 walking destinations, and 1.3 physical activity facilities in 2000. The number of all destinations increased between 2000 and 2010. Destinations for social engagement increased the most: the mean increase was 10.5 locations per tract. At
Discussion
The mean number of destinations for social engagement, walking, and physical activity all increased between 2000 and 2010 in a geographically diverse sample of U.S. metropolitan areas. Change also occurred in zoned land-use categories, although they were small in magnitude. Changes in the built environment were spatially clustered and patterned by sociodemographic characteristics. Neighborhood clusters experiencing greater change had higher percent non-Hispanic white residents, higher incomes
Conclusions
Evidence from this study suggests that in these seven U.S. metropolitan areas, destinations, potentially representing walkability, are increasing. This may indicate success of recent movements to improve the neighborhood environment and could have important implications toward the realization of policies to increase physical activity such as the U.S. Surgeon General's Call to Action, “Step It Up” (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2015). However, the unequal distribution of changes
Competing interests
The authors have no financial or competing interests to disclose.
Author contributions
JH conceived of the study, designed and executed the statistical analyses, and drafted the manuscript. JG, AS, and SA shaped the conceptualization of neighborhood change, advised the statistical analyses, and critically revised the manuscript to ensure it is relevant to both urban planning and public health. DR and SB participated in designing and coordinating the neighborhood ancillary studies to the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis and Jackson Heart Study, including developing and
Acknowledgements
Ongoing research was supported by NIH 2R01 HL071759, NIH-NIMHD 2P60MD002249 and from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Active Living Research Program (#52319). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH or the RWJF. This research received support from the Population Research Training grant (T32 HD007168) and the Population Research Infrastructure Program (P2C HD050924) awarded to the Carolina Population Center
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- 1
Present affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Dean's Office, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
- 2
Present affiliation: Department of City & Regional Planning, College of Environmental Design, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.