IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v8y2016i4p396-d68707.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What’s the Score? Walkable Environments and Subsidized Households

Author

Listed:
  • Young-Jae Kim

    (Department of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, North Dakota State University, 711 2nd Avenue North, Office #308, Fargo, ND 58102, USA)

  • Ayoung Woo

    (Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, Texas A&M University, A340 Langford Architecture Center, 3137 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843, USA)

Abstract

Neighborhood walkability can influence individual health, social interactions, and environmental quality, but the relationships between subsidized households and their walkable environment have not been sufficiently examined in previous empirical studies. Focusing on two types of subsidized housing developments (Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) and Public Housing (PH)) in Austin, Texas, this study evaluates the neighborhood walkability of place-based subsidized households, utilizing objectively measured Walk Score and walking-related built environment data. We also used U.S. Census block group data to account for the socio-demographic covariates. Based on various data, we employed bivariate and multivariate analyses to specify the relationships between subsidized households and their neighborhood walkable environment. The results of our bivariate analyses show that LIHTC households tend to be located in car-dependent neighborhoods and have more undesirable walking-related built environment conditions compared with non-LIHTC neighborhoods. Our regression results also represent that LIHTC households are more likely to be exposed to neighborhoods with low Walk Score, less sidewalk coverage, and more highways and major roads, while there are no significant associations for PH households. These findings imply that more attention and effort toward reducing the inequitable distributions of walkable neighborhood features supporting rather than hindering healthy lifestyles must be provided to subsidized households.

Suggested Citation

  • Young-Jae Kim & Ayoung Woo, 2016. "What’s the Score? Walkable Environments and Subsidized Households," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-20, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:8:y:2016:i:4:p:396-:d:68707
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/4/396/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/4/396/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Reid Ewing & Robert Cervero, 2010. "Travel and the Built Environment," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 76(3), pages 265-294.
    2. Winkleby, M.A. & Jatulis, D.E. & Frank, E. & Fortmann, S.P., 1992. "Socioeconomic status and health: How education, income, and occupation contribute to risk factors for cardiovascular disease," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 82(6), pages 816-820.
    3. Saelens, B.E. & Sallis, J.F. & Black, J.B. & Chen, D., 2003. "Neighborhood-Based Differences in Physical Activity: An Environment Scale Evaluation," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(9), pages 1552-1558.
    4. Lawrence D. Frank & Peter Engelke, 2005. "Multiple Impacts of the Built Environment on Public Health: Walkable Places and the Exposure to Air Pollution," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 28(2), pages 193-216, April.
    5. Giles-Corti, Billie & Bull, Fiona & Knuiman, Matthew & McCormack, Gavin & Van Niel, Kimberly & Timperio, Anna & Christian, Hayley & Foster, Sarah & Divitini, Mark & Middleton, Nick & Boruff, Bryan, 2013. "The influence of urban design on neighbourhood walking following residential relocation: Longitudinal results from the RESIDE study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 20-30.
    6. Eriksen, Michael D. & Rosenthal, Stuart S., 2010. "Crowd out effects of place-based subsidized rental housing: New evidence from the LIHTC program," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(11-12), pages 953-966, December.
    7. Kenneth Joh & Sandip Chakrabarti & Marlon G. Boarnet & Ayoung Woo, 2015. "The Walking Renaissance: A Longitudinal Analysis of Walking Travel in the Greater Los Angeles Area, USA," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(7), pages 1-27, July.
    8. Ainsworth, B.E. & Keenan, N.L. & Strogatz, D.S. & Garrett, J.M. & James, S.A., 1991. "Physical activity and hypertension in Black adults: The Pitt County study," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 81(11), pages 1477-1479.
    9. Gregory D. Squires & Charis E. Kubrin, 2005. "Privileged Places: Race, Uneven Development and the Geography of Opportunity in Urban America," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 42(1), pages 47-68, January.
    10. Ayoung Woo & Young-Jae Kim, 2016. "Spatial location of place-based subsidized households and uneven geography of opportunities: case of Austin, Texas in the US," Community Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(1), pages 45-62, February.
    11. Handy, Susan L & Mokhtarian, Patricia L. & Cao, Xinyu, 2008. "The Causal Influence of Neighborhood Design on Physical Activity Within the Neighborhood: Evidence from Northern California," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt3vp1d82d, University of California Transportation Center.
    12. Lopez, R., 2004. "Urban sprawl and risk for being overweight or obese," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 94(9), pages 1574-1579.
    13. Cao, Xinyu, 2006. "The Causal Relationship between the Built Environment and Personal Travel Choice: Evidence from Northern California," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt07q5p340, University of California Transportation Center.
    14. Leyden, K.M., 2003. "Social Capital and the Built Environment: The Importance of Walkable Neighborhoods," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(9), pages 1546-1551.
    15. Gary Pivo & Jeffrey D. Fisher, 2011. "The Walkability Premium in Commercial Real Estate Investments," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 39(2), pages 185-219, June.
    16. John Holtzclaw & Robert Clear & Hank Dittmar & David Goldstein & Peter Haas, 2002. "Location Efficiency: Neighborhood and Socio-Economic Characteristics Determine Auto Ownership and Use - Studies in Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco," Transportation Planning and Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(1), pages 1-27, January.
    17. William H. Carter & Michael H. Schill & Susan M. Wachter, 1998. "Polarisation, Public Housing and Racial Minorities in US Cities," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 35(10), pages 1889-1911, October.
    18. Boarnet, Marlon & Crane, Randall, 2001. "The influence of land use on travel behavior: specification and estimation strategies," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 823-845, November.
    19. Yen, I.H. & Kaplan, G.A., 1998. "Poverty area residence and changes in physical activity level: Evidence from the Alameda County Study," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 88(11), pages 1709-1712.
    20. Young-Jae Kim & Ayoung Woo, 2015. "Estimating Natural Environmental Characteristics of Subsidized Households: A Case Study of Austin, Texas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(10), pages 1-21, September.
    21. Lorinne du Toit & Ester Cerin & Evie Leslie & Neville Owen, 2007. "Does Walking in the Neighbourhood Enhance Local Sociability?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 44(9), pages 1677-1695, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Frank, Lawrence Douglas & Saelens, Brian E. & Powell, Ken E. & Chapman, James E., 2007. "Stepping towards causation: Do built environments or neighborhood and travel preferences explain physical activity, driving, and obesity?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(9), pages 1898-1914, November.
    2. Jingyuan Zhang & Puay Yok Tan & Hui Zeng & Ye Zhang, 2019. "Walkability Assessment in a Rapidly Urbanizing City and Its Relationship with Residential Estate Value," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-20, April.
    3. Chetan Doddamani & M. Manoj, 2023. "Analysis of the influences of built environment measures on household car and motorcycle ownership decisions in Hubli-Dharwad cities," Transportation, Springer, vol. 50(1), pages 205-243, February.
    4. Kevin Credit & Elizabeth Mack, 2019. "Place-making and performance: The impact of walkable built environments on business performance in Phoenix and Boston," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 46(2), pages 264-285, February.
    5. Kajosaari, Anna & Hasanzadeh, Kamyar & Kyttä, Marketta, 2019. "Residential dissonance and walking for transport," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 134-144.
    6. Austin Boyle & Charles Barrilleaux & Daniel Scheller, 2014. "Does Walkability Influence Housing Prices?," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 95(3), pages 852-867, September.
    7. Md. Kamruzzaman & Simon Washington & Douglas Baker & Wendy Brown & Billie Giles-Corti & Gavin Turrell, 2016. "Built environment impacts on walking for transport in Brisbane, Australia," Transportation, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 53-77, January.
    8. Faizeh Hatami & Jean-Claude Thill, 2022. "Spatiotemporal Evaluation of the Built Environment’s Impact on Commuting Duration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-19, June.
    9. Bradley Bereitschaft, 2017. "Equity in Microscale Urban Design and Walkability: A Photographic Survey of Six Pittsburgh Streetscapes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-20, July.
    10. Lo, A. W.-T. & Houston, D., 2018. "How do compact, accessible, and walkable communities promote gender equality in spatial behavior?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 42-54.
    11. Bojing Liao & Yifan Xu & Xiang Li & Ji Li, 2022. "Association between Campus Walkability and Affective Walking Experience, and the Mediating Role of Walking Attitude," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-13, November.
    12. Haitao Yu & Zhong-Ren Peng, 2020. "The impacts of built environment on ridesourcing demand: A neighbourhood level analysis in Austin, Texas," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(1), pages 152-175, January.
    13. Hou, Yuting & Yap, Winston & Chua, Rochelle & Song, Siqi & Yuen, Belinda, 2020. "The associations between older adults’ daily travel pattern and objective and perceived built environment: A study of three neighbourhoods in Singapore," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 314-328.
    14. Sun, Bindong & Yan, Hong & Zhang, Tinglin, 2017. "Built environmental impacts on individual mode choice and BMI: Evidence from China," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 11-21.
    15. Rongrong Zhang & Song Liu & Ming Li & Xiong He & Chunshan Zhou, 2021. "The Effect of High-Density Built Environments on Elderly Individuals’ Physical Health: A Cross-Sectional Study in Guangzhou, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-22, September.
    16. Erick Guerra & Shengxiao Li & Ariadna Reyes, 2022. "How do low-income commuters get to work in US and Mexican cities? A comparative empirical assessment," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 59(1), pages 75-96, January.
    17. Young-Jae Kim & Ayoung Woo, 2015. "Estimating Natural Environmental Characteristics of Subsidized Households: A Case Study of Austin, Texas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(10), pages 1-21, September.
    18. Dimitris Milakis & Dimitrios Efthymiou & Constantinos Antoniou, 2017. "Built Environment, Travel Attitudes and Travel Behaviour: Quasi-Longitudinal Analysis of Links in the Case of Greeks Relocating from US to Greece," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-17, September.
    19. Ivan Blečić & Tanja Congiu & Giovanna Fancello & Giuseppe Andrea Trunfio, 2020. "Planning and Design Support Tools for Walkability: A Guide for Urban Analysts," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-18, May.
    20. Etminani-Ghasrodashti, Roya & Ardeshiri, Mahyar, 2016. "The impacts of built environment on home-based work and non-work trips: An empirical study from Iran," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 196-207.

    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:jsusta:v:8:y:2016:i:4:p:396-:d:68707. 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.