Category Archives: Physical Activity

How Do Gym Location and Membership Interact to Impact Physical Activity?

Posted on May 9, 2019 by Built Environment and Health

We recently published a paper in the Journal of Urban Health, led by BEH alum Tanya Kaufman and frequent BEH collaborator Jana A. Hirsch, which found that individuals living near more commercial physical activity facilities (e.g. health club, tennis club, … Continue reading →

Posted in Accelerometers, Physical Activity, Urban Forestry | Leave a comment

Free-floating Bike Share in Seattle

Posted on January 24, 2019 by Built Environment and Health

BEH member Steve Mooney recently led two studies regarding the use of the free-floating bike share system in Seattle.  (Free-floating bike share systems are systems that allow users to pick up and leave bikes anywhere within a service area rather … Continue reading →

Posted in Active Transport, Bike Share, Bikeshare, Injury, Physical Activity, Safety, Socioeconomic status, Transportation | Leave a comment

How and where patterns of activity among older adults change over time

Posted on May 28, 2018 by Built Environment and Health

At BEH, we’re interested in how your residential neighborhood affects how physically active you are. But we’ve come to understand that being active as not just one thing and not merely a matter of expending calories. That is, walking is … Continue reading →

Posted in Adults, Methods, Physical Activity, Physical Disorder | Leave a comment

Webinar Online – Urban Informatics: Studying How Urban Design Influences Health in New York City

Posted on March 6, 2017 by Built Environment and Health

Dr. Rundle’s March 2nd webinar for the ISBNPA webinar has been posted online at ISBNPA’s web site (Here and embedded below). His talk covered different approaches to assessing neighborhood walkability and the link between urban design and resident’s physical activity using New York City … Continue reading →

Posted in Physical Activity, Urban Design, Walkability | Leave a comment

Webinar – Urban Informatics: Studying How Urban Design Influences Health in New York City

Posted on February 28, 2017 by Built Environment and Health

On Thursday March 2nd at 3pm EST, Dr. Rundle will give a webinar entitled “Urban Informatics: Studying How Urban Design Influences Health in New York City” for the International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. You can register for … Continue reading →

Posted in Accelerometers, Active Transport, GPS, Physical Activity, Walkability | Leave a comment

Neighborhood Physical Disorder and Physical Activity Among Older Adults in NYC

Posted on January 29, 2017 by Built Environment and Health

Through the years, we have done a fair amount of work to collect and validate measures of neighborhood physical disorder – urban deterioration – using our CANVAS/Google Street View system. Neighborhood disorder is controversial construct and measure, not only because … Continue reading →

Posted in Active Transport, Adults, Aesthetics, CANVAS, Physical Activity, Physical Disorder, Street View | Leave a comment

JAMA on Walking and Walkability

Posted on June 29, 2016 by Built Environment and Health

Following up on its two recent articles about neighborhood walkability, including an editorial co-authored by Andrew Rundle, JAMA today published a Medical News and Perspectives article entitled “As Walking Movement Grows, Neighborhood Walkability Gains Attention”.  The article notes the various … Continue reading →

Posted in Physical Activity, Walkability | Leave a comment

Steve Mooney receives Poster Award at Epidemiology Congress of the Americas 2016

Posted on June 24, 2016 by Built Environment and Health

Steve Mooney, a recently minted PhD who did his doctoral work with the BEH group, won a best poster presentation award at the 2016 Epidemiology Congress of the Americas for his work on the Neighborhood Environment-Wide Association Study design. Dr. … Continue reading →

Posted in Methods, Physical Activity, Social Determinants, Urban Design | Leave a comment

Measuring Pedestrian Activity Using GPS Logger Data

Posted on February 20, 2016 by Built Environment and Health

It has been suggested that GPS monitoring data can be used to estimate distances traveled and speeds of travel during active and non-active travel journeys and, that when combined with accelerometer monitoring, GPS data can be used to identify travel … Continue reading →

Posted in Active Transport, GPS, Physical Activity | Leave a comment

Using GPS and Accelerometers to Study Neighborhood Walkability and Physical Activity

Posted on November 17, 2015 by Built Environment and Health

We just published a paper in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine showing that differences in residential neighborhood walkability in New York City (NYC) are associated with how residents utilize neighborhood space and are associated with total weekly physical activity. Higher neighborhood … Continue reading →

Posted in Accelerometers, GPS, Physical Activity, Walkability | Leave a comment