IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v12y2023i2p282-d1040365.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Different Environments and Physical Activity before and during the COVID-19 Lockdown: Data from Slovenia

Author

Listed:
  • Vita Žlender

    (Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia (UIRS), Trnovski pristan 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia)

  • Stefano Gemin

    (Sportradar AG, Brnčičeva 41g, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia)

Abstract

The relationship between physical activity and green spaces has been widely researched, but less so when comparing physical activity in different environments. This study investigates the variations in physical activity across six environments (nature, park, urban, home, sportsground and indoor venue) and how it was influenced by lockdown governed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected from 1161 participants using an online survey conducted in spring 2021 in Slovenia. The results show that 95.5% of respondents are somewhat physically active, mostly in nature and at home. Respondents found natural shade, trees, secure access to and secure use of green spaces most important, recreational routes most encouraging, and bad smells and crowdedness most discouraging for outdoor physical activity. During the lockdown, 80% of people maintained or increased their physical activity. Regression analysis showed significant differences in preference for green space characteristics and levels of physical activity in different environments. Several sociodemographic and living environment characteristics also appeared significant. Our research findings underline the importance of considering a variety of environments when exploring preferences for physical activity. They also provide scientific evidence and justification for recommendations in planning and policy-making to encourage outdoor physical activity.

Suggested Citation

  • Vita Žlender & Stefano Gemin, 2023. "Different Environments and Physical Activity before and during the COVID-19 Lockdown: Data from Slovenia," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-21, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:2:p:282-:d:1040365
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/2/282/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/2/282/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sugiyama, T. & Francis, J. & Middleton, N.J. & Owen, N. & Giles-CortI, B., 2010. "Associations between recreational walking and attractiveness, size, and proximity of neighborhood open spaces," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 100(9), pages 1752-1757.
    2. Ellen Bentlage & Achraf Ammar & Daniella How & Mona Ahmed & Khaled Trabelsi & Hamdi Chtourou & Michael Brach, 2020. "Practical Recommendations for Maintaining Active Lifestyle during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Literature Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-22, August.
    3. Mohammad Reza Khalilnezhad & Francesca Ugolini & Luciano Massetti, 2021. "Attitudes and Behaviors toward the Use of Public and Private Green Space during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Iran," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-22, October.
    4. Venter, Zander & Barton, David & gundersen, vegard & Figari, Helene & Nowell, Megan, 2020. "Urban nature in a time of crisis: recreational use of green space increases during the COVID-19 outbreak in Oslo, Norway," SocArXiv kbdum, Center for Open Science.
    5. Kaczynski, A.T. & Potwarka, L.R. & Saelens P, B.E., 2008. "Association of park size, distance, and features with physical activity in neighborhood parks," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 98(8), pages 1451-1456.
    6. B. Derrick Taff & William L. Rice & Ben Lawhon & Peter Newman, 2021. "Who Started, Stopped, and Continued Participating in Outdoor Recreation during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States? Results from a National Panel Study," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-9, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. , Marcin Wozniak & Radzimski, Adam & Wajchman-Świtalska, Sandra, 2024. "Is More Always Better? Evaluating Accessibility to Parks and Forests in 33 European Cities Using Sustainable Modes of Transportation," OSF Preprints hcwgp, Center for Open Science.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mateusz Ciski & Krzysztof Rząsa, 2023. "Multiscale Geographically Weighted Regression in the Investigation of Local COVID-19 Anomalies Based on Population Age Structure in Poland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(10), pages 1-23, May.
    2. Krzysztof Rząsa & Mateusz Ciski, 2022. "Influence of the Demographic, Social, and Environmental Factors on the COVID-19 Pandemic—Analysis of the Local Variations Using Geographically Weighted Regression," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-26, September.
    3. Xiaohu Zhang & Scott Melbourne & Chinmoy Sarkar & Alain Chiaradia & Chris Webster, 2020. "Effects of green space on walking: Does size, shape and density matter?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(16), pages 3402-3420, December.
    4. Luyang Chen & Lingbo Liu & Hao Wu & Zhenghong Peng & Zhihao Sun, 2022. "Change of Residents’ Attitudes and Behaviors toward Urban Green Space Pre- and Post- COVID-19 Pandemic," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-16, July.
    5. LU, Yi & Zhao, Jianting & Wu, Xueying & Lo, Siu Ming, 2020. "Escaping to nature in pandemic: a natural experiment of COVID-19 in Asian cities," SocArXiv rq8sn, Center for Open Science.
    6. Amer Habibullah & Nawaf Alhajaj & Ahmad Fallatah, 2022. "One-Kilometer Walking Limit during COVID-19: Evaluating Accessibility to Residential Public Open Spaces in a Major Saudi City," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-16, October.
    7. Razieh Zandieh & Javier Martinez & Johannes Flacke, 2019. "Older Adults’ Outdoor Walking and Inequalities in Neighbourhood Green Spaces Characteristics," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-18, November.
    8. Meryem Hayir-Kanat & Jürgen Breuste, 2020. "Outdoor Recreation Participation in Istanbul, Turkey: An Investigation of Frequency, Length, Travel Time and Activities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-23, January.
    9. Yang Yang & Zhifang Wang & Guangsi Lin, 2021. "Performance Assessment Indicators for Comparing Recreational Services of Urban Parks," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-21, March.
    10. Chanuki Illushka Seresinhe & Helen Susannah Moat & Tobias Preis, 2018. "Quantifying scenic areas using crowdsourced data," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 45(3), pages 567-582, May.
    11. Shiqi Wang & Ang Li, 2022. "Impacts of COVID-19 Lockdown on Use and Perception of Urban Green Spaces and Demographic Group Differences," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-18, November.
    12. Yusuke Ueno & Sadahisa Kato & Tomoka Mase & Yoji Funamoto & Keiichi Hasegawa, 2022. "Human Flow Dataset Reveals Changes in Citizens’ Outing Behaviors including Greenspace Visits before and during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Kanazawa, Japan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-14, July.
    13. Claudia Fongar & Geir Aamodt & Thomas B. Randrup & Ingjerd Solfjeld, 2019. "Does Perceived Green Space Quality Matter? Linking Norwegian Adult Perspectives on Perceived Quality to Motivation and Frequency of Visits," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-16, July.
    14. Diana Dushkova & Maria Ignatieva & Anastasia Konstantinova & Viacheslav Vasenev & Elvira Dovletyarova & Yury Dvornikov, 2022. "Human-Nature Interactions during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic in Moscow, Russia: Exploring the Role of Contact with Nature and Main Lessons from the City Responses," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-31, May.
    15. Chaudhury, Habib & Campo, Michael & Michael, Yvonne & Mahmood, Atiya, 2016. "Neighbourhood environment and physical activity in older adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 104-113.
    16. Linde Van Hecke & Jelle Van Cauwenberg & Peter Clarys & Delfien Van Dyck & Jenny Veitch & Benedicte Deforche, 2016. "Active Use of Parks in Flanders (Belgium): An Exploratory Observational Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-15, December.
    17. Wang, Qian & Lan, Zili, 2019. "Park green spaces, public health and social inequalities: Understanding the interrelationships for policy implications," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 66-74.
    18. Walton, Emily, 2014. "Vital places: Facilitators of behavioral and social health mechanisms in low-income neighborhoods," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 1-12.
    19. Zhengying Liu & Astrid Kemperman & Harry Timmermans, 2020. "Location Choice in the Context of Older Adults’ Leisure-Time Walking," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-15, July.
    20. Bruno Marques & Jacqueline McIntosh & Chitrakala Muthuveerappan & Krzysztof Herman, 2022. "The Importance of Outdoor Spaces during the COVID-19 Lockdown in Aotearoa—New Zealand," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-17, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:2:p:282-:d:1040365. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.