Meteorological gaps in audits of pedestrian environments: A scoping review
Abstract Overview
Background: Built environments may mitigate negative impacts of weather and season on pedestrians’ physical activity.
Purpose: To identify built environment (BE) audits of pedestrian environments developed for use during a specific weather condition or season, and to investigate gaps in the inclusion of relevant weather mitigating BE features in pedestrian environment audit tools.
Methods: Following a standard protocol, a systematic search was executed in CINAHL, Medline and Web of Science to identify BE audit tools of pedestrian spaces. Studies were screened, and data were extracted from selected documents by two independent reviewers (e.g., psychometric properties, audit items included). Audit items were screened for the inclusion of weather mitigating BE features, and the tool’s capacity to measure temperature, precipitation, seasonal and sustainability impacts on pedestrians was calculated.
Results: The search returned 2823 documents. After screening and full text review, 27 articles were included. No tool was found that was developed specifically for use during a specific weather condition or season. Additionally, gaps in the inclusion of weather mitigating items were found for all review dimensions (temperature, precipitation, seasonal, and sustainability items). Poorly covered items were: (1) temperature related (e.g., arctic entry presence, colours of buildings, green design features); (2) precipitation related (drain presence, ditch presence, snow removal features); (3) seasonal features (e.g., pedestrian scale lighting, winter destinations); and (4) sustainability features (e.g., electric vehicle charging stations).
Conclusions: Current BE audit tools do not adequately include weather/ season mitigating items. This is a limitation as it is important to investigate if the inclusion of these items in pedestrian spaces can promote physical activity during adverse weather conditions.
Practical implications: Because climate change is causing increased extreme weather events, a need exists for the development of a new BE audit tool that includes relevant weather mitigating features.
Funding: Public Health Agency of Canada
Additional Authors
Name: Hayley Drapeau
Affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Presenting Author: no
Name: John C. Spence
Affiliation: Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, & Recreation, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB
Presenting Author: yes
Name: Pratima Singh
Affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Presenting Author: no
Name: Faina Benyaminov
Affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Presenting Author: no
Name: Kelsey Wright
Affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Presenting Author: no
Name: Saba Nuzhat
Affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Presenting Author: no
Name: Amy Walsh
Affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Presenting Author: no
Name: Kausarul Islam
Affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Presenting Author: no
Name: Zahra Azarm
Affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Presenting Author: no
Name: Karen Lee
Affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Presenting Author: no
Information
Study Type: Other
Subtheme: Co-benefits/ non-health benefits/ SDGs
Population Group: Not Applicable
Setting: Community
Submitting Author
John Spence
Professor
University of Alberta
Canada
