ABSTRACT
Children’s active travel (AT—i.e., walking, bicycling) has declined substantially especially for independent active travel (IAT). An increasing number of studies have examined walking behavior of adults to test the new urbanist hypothesis that design features support pedestrian activity. More neighborhood adult walking has been reported in new urbanist communities than in conventional suburban neighborhoods. However, study of children’s AT in new urbanist settings is under represented. This study investigates the association between neighborhood design and children’s active school travel (AST) in conventional and new urbanist neighborhoods. A group-administered survey was conducted with 4–5th grade children (N = 367). Built environment (BE) variables including distance to school, children’s population density, mixed land use, street density, intersection and sidewalk density, and physical activity (PA) locations around home were measured within a quarter mile buffer of each participant’s home in ArcGIS. Analyses of a further 254 students living within 2 miles from school with opportunities for walking were also conducted. T-test confirmed all BE variables were significantly different between conventional and new urbanist neighborhoods. New urbanist children engaged in twice the number of days of walking and 5–7 times more days of biking compared to children in conventional neighborhoods. Results suggest the need for further tests of new urbanist design principles in relation to children’s AT to support development of neighborhood design policies and interventions that may provide health promotion benefits to children.
