City design influences the physical activity of its inhabitants, according to a study using mobile data from more than 5,000 people
Analysis of data from a mobile health app covering more than 5,000 people in 1,609 cities in the United States reveals that moving from a less walkable area to a more walkable area leads to an increase in the number of steps taken per day, and vice versa. Walkability was measured using the Walk Score, an index based on parameters such as proximity to services, block length and intersection density. According to the authors, the results can serve as a guide for urban design policies that improve public health. The study is published in Nature.
Manuel Franco - ciudades caminables EN
Manuel Franco
Head of International Relations at the Spanish Society of Public Health and Healthcare Administration (SESPAS), organiser of the 2026 European Public Health Conference (EUPHA), Ikerbasque Research Professor at the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3) and professor and researcher at the universities of Alcalá and Johns Hopkins
The study is of very high quality and the design is very interesting, in terms of where the data comes from and how it has been chosen, selected and evaluated. I know some of the authors and they are very good people from Stanford University, as are the others.
The conclusions are relevant and very interesting. Furthermore, I believe there is a lot of evidence on these issues, but the more times they are quantified and put into numbers, the better. Another thing I like about the article is that the analysis is very well debated and defended.
A very important part is the selection of the sample, which is a classic issue in epidemiology: the bias caused by self-selection based on where each person lives. The data could be better, as always, but in any case, I think it is a very interesting article. As implications for the real world or for Spain, I think we should be increasingly aware of how the environment in which we live, especially the urban environment, has a lot to do with our health.
In this case, they are talking about physical activity related to walking. This is a very relevant issue because physical activity is always confused with sport or leisure-time physical activity and not with the physical activity we do as a result of moving around or how we carry out our daily tasks, which have nothing to do with sport or leisure-time physical activity. In this sense, it is very interesting because it once again focuses on urban planning, on the way we organise ourselves in cities and the way we move around.
And talking about travel in cities is essential for the development of the city itself, as a dynamic entity in which we live, work and have fun. It is a very important issue: the fact of travelling, who travels and how they do so, and mobility related to physical activity, which has to do with being able to walk, ride a bike, use public transport... And that everyone has that possibility.
Tim Althoff et al.
- Research article
- Peer reviewed
