www.idgo.ac.uk www.openspace.eca.ac.uk

Catherine MillingtonSusana AlvesCatharine Ward ThompsonAffonso ZuinPeter Aspinall

What is the impact of residential street environments on active lifestyles for older

people?

OPENspace Research Centre,Edinburgh College of Art

Inclusive Design for Getting OutdoorsConsortium Projects

www.idgo.ac.uk

Engineering and Physical Science Research Council

EQUAL Programme Extending Quality Life for older and disabled people

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Edinburgh College of Art with Heriot-Watt and Edinburgh Universities

Catharine Ward Thompson, Peter Aspinall, Archie Young, Anna Orme, Susana Alves, Catherine Millington, Affonso Zuin

Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development, Oxford Brookes University

Elizabeth Burton, Lynne Mitchell, Nicola Dempsey, Amanda Griffin

SURFACE Inclusive Design Research Centre and Centre for Rehabilitation and Human Performance

Research, University of SalfordMarcus Ormerod, Rita Newton, Christopher Nester,

Laurence Kenney, David Howard, Sibylle Thies, Hamish MacLennan, Faruk Mohammad

I’DGO TOO Researchers

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Do Home Zones result in environments where older people:

• Go outside more often?• Spend more time outside in the local environment? • Have better social networks?• Have a better quality of life?

Project aims & objectives

Home Zones & Shared Space Streets

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• Home zones (originating in the Netherlands as ‘woornerf’) are residential streets where pedestrians & vehicles share the whole of the road space safely, & on equal terms, & where quality of life takes precedence over ease of traffic movement.

• The objective is to extend the benefits of slow traffic speeds within residential areas to give priority to non motorised traffic.

• Residents are encouraged to use streets in different ways, e.g. for social activities and play.

Common Components of HZ

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• Traditional forms of traffic calming (e.g. signage, road humps) are not used

• Shared space demarcated by changes to road surfacing

• Improved footpaths & cycleways• Planting (e.g. shrubs, trees) to

‘green’ the environment, provide shelter & encourage people to linger

• Changes to street lighting to improve perceptions of personal safety

Research Design

• Longitudinal study before & after Home Zone or shared space principles are implemented

• People 65 years & older residing in the UK

• Study sites:

• Most of the sites are in areas of high multiple deprivation.

• 8 shared space project sites in England & Wales (Sustrans ‘DIY Streets’) & Edinburgh new build HZ, plus matching control sites

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DIY: Castle St - Port

Talbot

DIY: Brooke/Evering Rd -

London

Control: Geldeston Rd - London Control: Crown St - Port

Talbot

Structured interviewsHealthQoL Perceptions of the physical environmentFrequency of going outdoors

Physical activityMeasured through the use of an accelerometer and activity diary for the period of one week

Behavioural observationsSystematically observe activity patterns in streets

Street auditsUsed to map out the physical features of streets

Data Collection Methods

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Physical activity Activity diaries & Accelerometers

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Physical activity counts per minute for one day from accelerometer data collected from a participant

09:0009:4210:2411:0611:4812:3013:1213:5414:3615:1816:0016:4217:2418:0618:4819:3020:1220:5421:3622:1823:0023:420

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

Ac

tiv

ity

(c

ou

nts

pe

r m

inu

te)

Moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA).Numbers indicate consecutive mins MVPA.

4

11

11

5 5

4

Leaves house at 10:00. Goes to post office walking & by bus & then to Guild by bus. Returns home 16:10

Leaves house at 18:05. Goes dancing. Gets there by walking & by bus. Returns home 21:15

Time period outside house

Key

MVPA= Moderate to vigorous physical activity, defined using 1951 counts per min as cut-off point (Freedson et al.,1998)

These bouts of MVPA occur shortly after participant leaves the house & shortly before returning - possibly coinciding with walking to & from bus stop

Behaviour Observations• 30 minutes in the morning (9:30-10:00 AM) and afternoon (4:30-5:00 PM) • Two days of the week (excluding Fridays & weekend)• DIY & Control streets. • In long streets (>1 km), observations were undertaken at either end of the

street; in shorter streets just one location.

The following were recorded for each person observed in a 30 minute period:

• Age• Gender • Mobility • Social interaction• Physical activity

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• More people PM than AM

observations

• High variability between

observation sessions

• Highest number of people

observed in London

Brooke/Evering Control 2

Number of people per observation

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• Dominant age group is young

adults (20-40yrs)• Higher frequency of people aged 65+ AM

than PM

• Very few people aged 65+ • More children, teenagers & young adults

PM than AM

Age group & time of day

SummaryPhysical activity

• Experiential and objective measurements• Linked activity diary & accelerometer data to identify

level of physical activity with type of activity when participant is outdoors

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SummaryBehaviour observations

• Higher frequency of people observed during PM than AM sessions

• Young adults are the dominant age group• Approx 60% alone & 30% talking to another person• Approx 70% walking & 10% cycling • More people where high traffic, but more interaction

between people where light or medium traffic

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What are we doing next?

• Continue data analysis (Interviews & complete analysis of accelerometers & activity diaries)

• Post-intervention data collection

• Compare before & after HZ developed

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References

• Freedson, P. S., Melanson, E., Sirard, J. (1998). Calibration of the computer science and applications, Inc. accelerometer. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 30(5), 777-781.

• Wojtek, J. et. al. (2009). Exercise and physical activity for older adults. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 1510-1530.

• Appleyard, D. (1981). Livable streets. Berkeley: University of California Press.

• Hart, J. (2008). Driven to Excess: Impacts of motor vehicle traffic on residential quality of life in Bristol, UK. MSc Transport Planning. University of the West of England, Bristol.

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Websites

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Visit our website www.openspace.eca.ac.uk

I’DGOwww.idgo.ac.uk

Sustrans DIY streetswww.sustrans.org.uk/diystreets