IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v44y2007i9p1677-1695.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does Walking in the Neighbourhood Enhance Local Sociability?

Author

Listed:
  • Lorinne du Toit

    (Cancer Prevention Research Centre, School of Population Health, Public Health Building, Herston Road, Herston, Brisbane, Queensland 4006, Australia, l.dutoit@sph.uq.edu.au)

  • Ester Cerin

    (Institute of Human Performance, The University of Hong Kong, 111 Pokfulam Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, ecerin@hku.hk)

  • Evie Leslie

    (School of Health and Social Development, Deakin University, Waterfront Campus, 1 Gheringhap Street, Geelong, Victoria, Australia 3217, evie.leslie@deakin.edu.au)

  • Neville Owen

    (Cancer Prevention Research Centre, School of Population Health, Public Health Building, Herston Road, Herston, Brisbane, Queensland 4006, Australia, n.owen@sph.uq.edu.au)

Abstract

The walkability of urban neighbourhoods has emerged as a strong component in policy and design models for active, liveable communities. This paper examines the proposition that more walkable neighbourhoods encourage local social interaction, a sense of community, informal social control and social cohesion; and that the relationship is explained by walking for transport or for recreation. Multilevel analyses of data from an Australian sample showed a modest association between the walkability of a neighbourhood and sense of community only. Walking for transport, but not recreation, mediated this relationship although the effect was small. These results support contentions that 'walkability' is more complex than usually defined and that factors influencing neighbourhood sociability extend beyond issues of urban form.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:44:y:2007:i:9:p:1677-1695
    DOI: 10.1080/00420980701426665
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1080/00420980701426665
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00420980701426665?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cervero, R. & Duncan, M., 2003. "Walking, Bicycling, and Urban Landscapes: Evidence from the San Francisco Bay Area," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(9), pages 1478-1483.
    2. Sallis, James F. & Frank, Lawrence D. & Saelens, Brian E. & Kraft, M. Katherine, 2004. "Active transportation and physical activity: opportunities for collaboration on transportation and public health research," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 249-268, May.
    3. White, Halbert, 1982. "Maximum Likelihood Estimation of Misspecified Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(1), pages 1-25, January.
    4. Cervero, Robert & Duncan, Michael, 2003. "Walking, Bicycling, and Urban Landscapes: Evidence from the San Francisco Bay Area," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt6zr1x95m, University of California Transportation Center.
    5. 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.
    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. Stefano Bartolini, 2018. "Social capital as disease prevention," Department of Economics University of Siena 778, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    2. Florkowski, Wojciech J. & Us, Anna, 2017. "Common Forms of Recreation Among Residents of Rural Areas: the Case of Residents in Lubelskie Voivodship," Roczniki (Annals), Polish Association of Agricultural Economists and Agribusiness - Stowarzyszenie Ekonomistow Rolnictwa e Agrobiznesu (SERiA), vol. 2016(4), May.
    3. Cerin, Ester & Leslie, Eva & Owen, Neville, 2009. "Explaining socio-economic status differences in walking for transport: An ecological analysis of individual, social and environmental factors," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(6), pages 1013-1020, March.
    4. Mizzo Kwon & Andrew C. Pickett & Yunsoo Lee & SeungJong Lee, 2019. "Neighborhood Physical Environments, Recreational Wellbeing, and Psychological Health," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 14(1), pages 253-271, March.
    5. Delmelle, Elizabeth C. & Haslauer, Eva & Prinz, Thomas, 2013. "Social satisfaction, commuting and neighborhoods," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 110-116.
    6. Kamruzzaman, Md. & Wood, Lisa & Hine, Julian & Currie, Graham & Giles-Corti, Billie & Turrell, Gavin, 2014. "Patterns of social capital associated with transit oriented development," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 144-155.
    7. Young-Jae Kim & Ayoung Woo, 2016. "What’s the Score? Walkable Environments and Subsidized Households," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-20, April.
    8. 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.

    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. Wang, Donggen & Lin, Tao, 2013. "Built environments, social environments, and activity-travel behavior: a case study of Hong Kong," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 286-295.
    2. Millward, Hugh & Spinney, Jamie & Scott, Darren, 2013. "Active-transport walking behavior: destinations, durations, distances," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 101-110.
    3. Tashi Dendup & Xiaoqi Feng & Stephanie Clingan & Thomas Astell-Burt, 2018. "Environmental Risk Factors for Developing Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-25, January.
    4. Majd Homoud & Ola M. Jarrar, 2024. "Walkability in Riyadh: A Comprehensive Assessment and Implications for Sustainable Community—Al-Falah Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-27, September.
    5. Andrea Abraham & Kathrin Sommerhalder & Thomas Abel, 2010. "Landscape and well-being: a scoping study on the health-promoting impact of outdoor environments," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 55(1), pages 59-69, February.
    6. Mohammad Javad Kamelifar & Behzad Ranjbarnia & Houshmand Masoumi, 2022. "The Determinants of Walking Behavior before and during COVID-19 in Middle-East and North Africa: Evidence from Tabriz, Iran," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-20, March.
    7. 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.
    8. Li Yin & Samina Raja & Xiao Li & Yuan Lai & Leonard Epstein & James Roemmich, 2013. "Neighbourhood for Playing: Using GPS, GIS and Accelerometry to Delineate Areas within which Youth are Physically Active," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 50(14), pages 2922-2939, November.
    9. Sehatzadeh, Bahareh & Noland, Robert B. & Weiner, Marc D., 2011. "Walking frequency, cars, dogs, and the built environment," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 45(8), pages 741-754, October.
    10. Marina Lagune-Reutler & Andrew Guthrie & Yingling Fan & David Levinson, 2015. "Transit Riders' Perception of Waiting Time and Stops' Surrounding Environments," Working Papers 000142, University of Minnesota: Nexus Research Group.
    11. Devin McNally & Rachel Tillinghast & Hiroyuki Iseki, 2022. "Bicycle Accessibility GIS Analysis for Bike Master Planning with a Consideration of Level of Traffic Stress (LTS) and Energy Consumption," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
    12. Regine Gerike & Caroline Koszowski & Bettina Schröter & Ralph Buehler & Paul Schepers & Johannes Weber & Rico Wittwer & Peter Jones, 2021. "Built Environment Determinants of Pedestrian Activities and Their Consideration in Urban Street Design," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-21, August.
    13. Peters, Luke & MacKenzie, Don, 2019. "The death and rebirth of bikesharing in Seattle: Implications for policy and system design," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 208-226.
    14. Singh, Abhilash C. & Faghih Imani, Ahmadreza & Sivakumar, Aruna & Luna Xi, Yang & Miller, Eric J., 2024. "A joint analysis of accessibility and household trip frequencies by travel mode," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    15. Irina Tumini & Paula Villagra-Islas & Geraldine Herrmann-Lunecke, 2017. "Evaluating reconstruction effects on urban resilience: a comparison between two Chilean tsunami-prone cities," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 85(3), pages 1363-1392, February.
    16. Chandra, Shailesh & Jimenez, Jose & Radhakrishnan, Ramalingam, 2017. "Accessibility evaluations for nighttime walking and bicycling for low-income shift workers," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 97-108.
    17. Paula Villagra & Carolina Quintana, 2017. "Disaster Governance for Community Resilience in Coastal Towns: Chilean Case Studies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-24, September.
    18. Rybarczyk, Greg & Gallagher, Laura, 2014. "Measuring the potential for bicycling and walking at a metropolitan commuter university," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 1-10.
    19. Ding, Yue & Wang, Xiaokun (Cara) & Pérez-Guzmán, Sofía & Wojtowicz, Jeffrey & Conway, Alison, 2024. "Multi-criteria assessment and ranking framework for the potential of cargo cycle operation: Using New York city as an example," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    20. Xinyu Cao & Patricia L. Mokhtarian, 2012. "The connections among accessibility, self- selection and walking behaviour: a case study of Northern California residents," Chapters, in: Karst T. Geurs & Kevin J. Krizek & Aura Reggiani (ed.), Accessibility Analysis and Transport Planning, chapter 5, pages 73-95, Edward Elgar Publishing.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:sae:urbstu:v:44:y:2007:i:9:p:1677-1695. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    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.