How to create residential environments that support physical activity?

The sedentary lifestyle has become very prevalent in many developed countries and has increased the risk of various physical diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, non-communicable and infectious diseases. Physical inactivity is a major cause of some non-communicable diseases which is responsible for about 9% of global mortality.Physical activity is recommended for its benefits for human health and can play a key role in reducing the risk factors and improving such diseases. We tend to increase physical activity by designing “activityfriendly environments”. It provides people with local infrastructures and convenient places for physical activity and caused people to do planned exercise, routine daily activity, and “active transport”. Recent studies have shown clear associations between the built environment and physical activity behaviours. But how do the residential environment can promote physical activity? The purpose of the present paper is to investigate the relation between residential environment attributes and physical activity and provide recommendations for environmental changes that could increase physical activity. This review intends to draw conclusions from previous reviews then illustrate some environmental factors, such as safety, aesthetics and street design, Accessibility to recreational facilities and open spaces, Density, mixed land use, and street connectivity.

Keywords:

Physical activity , residential environment , physical health , active transport