Page 22 - JCAU-6-2

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Leisure-time physical activity

of the association between urban BE characteristics and 4. Discussion
residents’ OLTPA levels across four articles, while Figure 7
depicts the proportion of significant associations observed 4.1. Discussion of the main ideas
in these articles. Notably, the four articles examining the At present, there is limited evidence regarding the
association between urban BE and residents’ OLTPA were association between urban BE and residents’ LTPA.
of fair and good quality. When assessing the proportion of First, the response rate is a key factor in determining the
evidence indicating a significant association between BE quality of a study. A high sample response rate reflects a
characteristic categories and residents’ OLTPA levels in more representative sample and reduces the likelihood
each city study, a robust positive association was identified of non-response bias (Meterko et al., 2015). Conversely,
between destination accessibility within the category of low response rates or significant differences between
urban BE characteristics and residents’ OLTPA levels respondents and non-respondents can introduce statistical
(80% of the evidence). This finding suggests that improved bias, undermining result validity (Sivo et al., 2006).
accessibility to recreational facilities such as green spaces Second, confounding factors at different levels can
and parks positively influences residents’ OLTPA levels influence the association between urban BE and residents’
(Cerin et al., 2013a; Fu et al., 2018). Furthermore, these LTPA levels (Glanz et al., 2008). At the individual level,
four articles revealed a potential positive correlation the dependence of individuals’ physical activity on certain
between desirability and residents’ OLTPA levels (40.9% characteristics of the urban BE intensifies as their activity
of the evidence). On further analysis of the desirability capacity declines with age (Ribeiro et al., 2013). Moreover,
classification, three out of the four articles concluded that women may be more susceptible to certain urban BE
esthetic perception (Cerin et al., 2013a; Fu et al., 2018; T. Yu characteristics influence on LTPA compared to men
et al., 2021) and road safety (Cerin et al., 2013a; Li & Zhao, (Kavanagh et al., 2006). At the social and environmental
2022; T. Yu et al., 2021) significantly impacted residents’ levels, well-connected bicycle lanes, walkable streets,
OLTPA levels. The remaining urban BE characteristic ample green spaces, and accessible recreational facilities
categories were marked as “N/A.” positively impact on attracting individuals and promoting
higher LTPA levels (Wang et al., 2016).
3.2.3. Association between the urban built
Third, the influence of urban BE characteristics on
environment characteristics and residents’ leisure- residents’ LTPA levels often reflects socioecological
time physical activity levels
connotations (Sallis et al., 2015). Specifically, psychosocial
Twelve articles did not distinguish between specific types factors play a crucial role in moderating individuals’
of LTPA in their primary outcomes. Figure 8 illustrates the behavior and motivation to participate in LTPA (Bauman
evidence of the association between urban BE characteristics et al., 2012). Among the psychosocial factors, “self-efficacy”
and residents’ LTPA levels across 12 articles, while Figure 9 (Bergström et al., 2015), “beliefs” about the benefits of
depicts the proportion of significant associations observed physical activity (Stehr et al., 2021), and “social support
in these articles. When calculating the proportion of networks” (Kim et al., 2020) have been identified.
the evidence of a significant association between BE Finally, the measurement methods for urban BE and
characteristic categories and residents’ LTPA levels in each residents’ LTPA levels significantly impact on revealing
city relative to the total number in the association analysis, their association mechanisms. Quantitative measurements
this study revealed a significant positive association between may overlook individuals’ subjective factors, leading to
the urban BE category design and desirability and the biased conclusions (Peters et al., 2020). The same physical
LTPA levels of residents (52.4% and 43.8% of the evidence, environment may elicit different LTPA levels among
respectively). If only the proportion of associated evidence individuals (McCormack et al., 2008). Therefore, relying
in the three articles of good and fair quality is calculated, solely on objective or perceptual measures can yield limited
there is compelling evidence of an association between conclusions (Weden et al., 2008). Similarly, exclusive
design and the LTPA levels of residents, with a significant reliance on self-reports often leads to overestimations of
association reaching 60%. Further, analysis of the design LTPA levels (Zhu et al., 2022).
classification revealed that two of the four articles provided
evidence of a positive association between greenness and 4.2. The urgent need to explore the impact
residents’ LTPA levels (Dai et al., 2019; Zhu et al., 2022), mechanism of the urban built environment
while the remaining two articles provided evidence of Rapid urbanization in China has led to an enormous
a positive association between street connectivity and spatial gap related to physical activity, both within and
residents’ LTPA levels (Fei et al., 2022; Wu et al., 2019). between cities. At the national level, the per capita green

Volume 6 Issue 2 (2024) 13 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.2427