Eye-Level Street Greenery and Walking Behaviors of Older Adults

Abstract

Evidence suggests that built environment characteristics affect older adults’ travel activity behaviors, e.g., walking and cycling, which have well-established health benefits. However, the relationship between urban greenery and walking behaviors remains unclear, partly due to methodological limitation. Previous studies often measured urban greenery from a bird’s eye perspective, which may mismatch with the pedestrian’s perception from the street. In this study, we measured greenery view index from eye-level streetscape photos retrieved from Baidu Street View, an online mapping service provider. Walking behaviors of 180 older adults in six neighborhoods were collected from questionnaires. We also measured land use diversity, pedestrian-oriented design (street connectivity), and population density—the three Ds of the built environment. Results show that street greenery view index contributes to walking time of older adults, suggesting street greenery should be taken into design consideration to promote walking behaviors of older adults.