Desserts and Oases: Built environment attributes that promote physical activity according to area-level disadvantage

Background: The built environment plays a role in facilitating individual choices to engage in physical activity. However, most research has been conducted in urban areas, with limited data available for regional and remote towns. Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate patterns and clusters of physical activity promoting features in the built environment by area-level socio economic deprivation. Methods: Four local government areas (LGA’s) Toowoomba, Ipswich, Goondiwindi and the Scenic Rim, all of which were regional (peri-urban and rural) were included. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Index of Relative Socio-economic disadvantage was allocated for each suburb. The following data were collected for each suburb: post code, population, indoor and outdoor sport facilities, parks and reserves, gyms and fitness centres, and sports clubs. Councils provided SHAPE files on attributes where available and this was supplemented with data scraping from google maps. Once the GIS data was pre-processed and geocoded, the map layers underwent a range of processing operations, such as attribute query and display, coincident analysis, and proximity analysis based on distance. ArcGIS was used for geo-spatial cluster analysis to produce patterns and clusters of PA features for each suburb.
Results: A total of 463 suburbs, 317 of which represent low socio-economic areas, were included. The Toowoomba and Ipswich LGA’s delivered more community-based PA programs (n=70 and 78, respectively) compared to the other 2 LGA’s (n-12 and 15). More than half of Ipswich and Toowoomba suburbs had no PA facilities and services. Furthermore, a socio-economic gradient was present, with fewer PA features in suburbs from the lowest socio-economic areas. Conclusion: Enhancing the built environment with PA places and spaces is required in regional and remote areas. Practical Implications: These analysis represents opportunities to address inequalities, whereby more PA features should be built in lower socio-economic areas.