Page 10 - JCAU-6-2

Journal of Chinese

Architecture and Urbanism

REVIEW ARTICLE
Progress, limitations, and prospects for

improvement in understanding the impact
of urban built environment on residents’

leisure-time physical activity in China: A
systematic review

2,3
Fan Yang 1 , Chao Ge * , and Jiayin Wang 1
1 Department of Urban Planning, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University,
Shanghai, China
2 Faculty of Innovation and Design, City University of Macau, Macau, China
3 The Second School of Clinical Medical, Guangdong Medical University, Dongguan, Guangdong,
China

Abstract
Leisure-time physical activities (LTPAs) play a crucial role in improving health.
Likewise, improving certain aspects of the built environment is essential for
promoting residents to engage in LTPA. However, the impact of urban built
*Corresponding author:
Chao Ge environment characteristics on residents’ levels of LTPA and its underlying mechanism
(gechao@gdmu.edu.cn) remain unclear. To address this gap, we conducted a systematic literature review in
Citation: Yang, F., Ge, C. & Wang, J. accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-
(2024). Progress, limitations, and Analysis guidelines. In 2022, we searched eight databases and identified 453 relevant
prospects for improvement in publications. The selected literature had to meet specific inclusion criteria: (i) the
understanding the impact of urban
built environment on residents’ sample targeted Chinese adults (≥18 years), and (ii) it quantified the effect of urban
leisure-time physical activity in China: built environment characteristics on residents’ levels of LTPA. Out of the initial pool,
A systematic review. Journal of 18 articles met our inclusion criteria. Our findings indicate that although previous
Chinese Architecture and Urbanism, studies have revealed that esthetic perception and road safety can facilitate residents’
6(2), 2427.
https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.2427 participation in LTPA, there is a lack of methods for identifying built environment
characteristics and analyzing the psychosocial mediation mechanism between the
Received: December 13, 2023
built environment and LTPA in specific populations. Improving the robustness of
Accepted: February 6, 2024 research conclusions is an important research direction that will yield solid evidence
Published Online: May 10, 2024 of the impact of the urban environment on human health. Limited evidence exists
regarding the association between urban built environment characteristics in China
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s).
This is an open-access article and residents’ LTPA levels. However, advancements in remote sensing images,
distributed under the terms of the computer vision in artificial intelligence, and machine learning technologies offer
Creative Commons Attribution- innovative avenues for modeling built environments and land use functions.
Non-Commercial 4.0 International
(CC BY-NC 4.0), which permits all Developing an impact mechanism model of the built environment and LTPA using
non-commercial use, distribution, individual perceptions and social psychological factors as mediating mechanisms is
and reproduction in any medium, imperative. This approach will serve as a reference for urban spatial optimization and
provided the original work is
properly cited. the development of spatial planning intervention tools.
Publisher’s Note: AccScience
Publishing remains neutral with Keywords: Leisure-time physical activity; Built environment; Mediating effects;
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional Space optimization; Chinese cities
affiliations.

Volume 6 Issue 2 (2024) 1 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.2427