TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of regional population density on walking behavior
AU - Tanishita, Masayoshi
AU - van Wee, Bert
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Land use can influence walking (measured by the number of steps) and so the health of people. This paper presents the result of empirical research on the impact of regional population densities (inhabitants per inhabitable area) on the number of steps (all steps, both outdoors and indoors). With data collected from almost 11,000 respondents in 148 Japanese regions, we estimate polynomial regression models, the total number of steps being the dependent variable and densities being the main independent variable. Regional population density significantly affects the number of steps after controlling for individual and household attributes. The estimated population density that maximizes the number of steps is around 11,000 persons/km2. Increasing densities, up to levels of around 11,000 inhabitants/km2, could increase walking and consequently the health of inhabitants. The population density elasticity of the number of steps is 0.046–0.049 in a simple log linear regression model without a peak.
AB - Land use can influence walking (measured by the number of steps) and so the health of people. This paper presents the result of empirical research on the impact of regional population densities (inhabitants per inhabitable area) on the number of steps (all steps, both outdoors and indoors). With data collected from almost 11,000 respondents in 148 Japanese regions, we estimate polynomial regression models, the total number of steps being the dependent variable and densities being the main independent variable. Regional population density significantly affects the number of steps after controlling for individual and household attributes. The estimated population density that maximizes the number of steps is around 11,000 persons/km2. Increasing densities, up to levels of around 11,000 inhabitants/km2, could increase walking and consequently the health of inhabitants. The population density elasticity of the number of steps is 0.046–0.049 in a simple log linear regression model without a peak.
KW - behavior
KW - health
KW - indoors and outdoors
KW - number of steps
KW - population density
KW - Walking
UR - http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:7146b9a7-9617-4667-b9a4-6f170a64f7c6
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85019231475&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/03081060.2017.1325137
DO - 10.1080/03081060.2017.1325137
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85019231475
SN - 0308-1060
VL - 40
SP - 661
EP - 678
JO - Transportation Planning and Technology
JF - Transportation Planning and Technology
IS - 6
ER -