Influences of the built environment on walking and cycling of latent segments of the aging population

Walking and bicycling are relatively easy ways to be physically active for the growing group of older adults. The built environment may facilitate or restrict their participation in walking and bicycling trips. The aim of this study is to describe various aspects of participation in walking and bicycling activities and to explore their role for various segments of the aging population. Specifically, the relation between environmental characteristics, various types of land use and degree of urbanization on participation in walking and bicycling, both for leisure and transportation purposes, is examined. Detailed individual travel data is correlated with objectively defined environmental attributes. The results show that people make more walking trips in higher urbanized areas, while they use their bike more often in less urbanized areas. A significant effect was found for the impact of the total surface of recreation areas on both types of physical activity. Specifically, highly urbanized neighborhoods with a low percentage of recreation and green areas are related to physical inactivity. It suggests that compact, high density neighborhoods may not be a good urban design concept if health is taken into account.