Does Residential Density Increase Walking and Other Physical Activity?

TLDR

Increasing physical activity is widely seen as beneficial for public health, and higher residential densities also offer advantages such as efficient infrastructure use, housing affordability, energy efficiency, and potentially vibrant street life. This paper reports on empirical findings on the relationship between residential density, walking, and total physical activity. The study, based on objective and self‑reported data from 715 U.S.

Abstract

Many agree that increasing physical activity will improve public health. This paper reports on empirical findings on the relationship between the density of the residential environment, walking and total physical activity. Using multiple objective and self-reported measures for 715 participants in the US, and improved techniques for sampling and analysis, it finds that density is associated with the purpose of walking (travel, leisure) but not the amount of overall walking or overall physical activity, although there are sub-group differences by race/ ethnicity. Overall, higher densities have many benefits in terms of efficient use of infrastructure, housing affordability, energy efficiency and possibly vibrant street life. But higher densities alone, like other built environment features, do not appear to be the silver bullet in the public health campaign to increase physical activity.