ABSTRACT
The built environment consists of the neighbourhoods, roads, buildings, food sources, and recreational facilities in which people live, work, are educated, eat, and play. The physical layout of communities can promote or limit opportunities for physical activity. Using accelerometers to capture objective levels of physical activity, Frank and colleagues (2005) observed that community design was significantly associated with the accumulation of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and the achievement of activity guidelines. However, these associations were explored in adults. While there is some evidence to support a link between the built environment and children’s physical activity (Davison and Lawson, 2006; Rahman et al., 2011), most studies have used self- reported measures of activity that show mixed results (Sandercock et al., 2010), and, are known to have limited validity in children (Pate et al., 2002). Thus, there is growing interest in understanding how neighbourhood design impacts children’s objective (i.e., accelerometer-measured) habitual levels of physical activity.
