•An immersive virtual environment was used to test cyclists’ environmental preferences.•The realism in such environments is expected to support greater ecological validity.•Higher presence levels ...were recorded in virtual compared to still images environments.•Relatively low test–retest reliability scores were recorded in the experiments.•The method enables the study of affective reactions to the environment.
The article discusses the feasibility and benefits of using immersive virtual environments (IVEs) to gauge the environmental preferences of individuals. The discussion is based on the results of a stated preference conjoint experiment employed within an IVE. In the experiment, participants were asked to rate and rank their cycling experience during and after they had cycled a few virtual routes with changing environmental characteristics. Participants repeated the experiment a week later to allow the examination of the test–retest reliability of the method. Presence level—namely the extent to which one has an actual sense of being in the simulated world—was computed using the ITC–SOPI questionnaire. The scores were compared with an equivalent, more traditional, still images conjoint task that was administrated to a control group. Presence level was significantly higher in the IVE compared to the still images experiment. This finding supports the notion that IVEs may yield greater external validity due to their higher level of realism. Relatively low test–retest reliability scores between the two IVE experiment rounds were obtained. This might be explained by the participants’ low familiarity with IVEs, which in the first round diverted their attention from the conjoint task itself. In contrast, the test–retest scores of post-IVE evaluations, which are considered more cognitive in their nature, were satisfactory. Implications of the experiments and suggestions for future research are discussed.
•Associations between weather conditions and cycling are explored in Rotterdam.•Temperature has supportive effects, wind and precipitation show inhibitory effects.•Relationships are stronger for ...leisure than work trips.•Residential location matters and influences weather effects on mode choices.•Local models outperform region-wide counterparts.
With its sustainability, health and accessibility benefits, cycling has nowadays been established on research and policy agendas. Notwithstanding the decision to cycle is closely related to local weather conditions and interwoven with the geographical context, research dealing with both aspects is scarce. On the basis of travel diary data, we assess the association of three weather conditions, namely air temperature, wind speed, and precipitation, on cycling trips for leisure and commute purposes for the Greater Rotterdam area, the Netherlands. Besides region-wide logit models and autologistic regressions, place-specific associations of weather conditions are explored through geographically weighted logit models. Considering the entire Rotterdam area, results confirm significant weather effects on cycling while highlighting the necessity to model the residents’ locational component. When the confounding effects of individual and household characteristics are controlled, a key finding is that weather effects appear to vary across space, specifically between the more densely settled central environments and the surrounding lower-density areas. Additionally, the results show differences between leisure and commute trips, in which leisure trips appear to be more weather sensitive and show more pronounced spatial patterns.
Both social and physical neighbourhood factors may affect residents' health, but few studies have considered the combination of several exposures in relation to individual health status.
To assess a ...range of different potentially relevant physical and social environmental characteristics in a sample of small neighbourhoods in the Netherlands, to study their mutual correlations and to explore associations with morbidity of residents using routinely collected general practitioners' (GPs') data.
For 135 neighbourhoods in 43 Dutch municipalities, we could assess area-level social cohesion and collective efficacy using external questionnaire data, urbanisation, amount of greenspace and water areas, land use diversity, air pollution (particulate matter (PM) with a diameter <10 μm (PM10), PM <2.5 μm (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and noise (from road traffic and from railways). Health data of the year 2013 from GPs were available for 4450 residents living in these 135 neighbourhoods, that were representative for the entire country. Morbidity of 10 relevant physical or mental health groupings was considered. Individual-level socio-economic information was obtained from Statistics Netherlands. Associations between neighbourhood exposures and individual morbidity were quantified using multilevel mixed effects logistic regression analyses, adjusted for sex, age (continuous), household income and socio-economic status (individual level) and municipality and neighbourhood (group level).
Most physical exposures were strongly correlated with degree of urbanisation. Social cohesion and collective efficacy tended to be higher in less urbanised municipalities. Degree of urbanisation was associated with higher morbidity of all disease groupings. A higher social cohesion at the municipal level coincided with a lower prevalence of depression, migraine/severe headache and Medically Unexplained Physical Symptoms (MUPS). An increase in both natural and agricultural greenspace in the neighbourhood was weakly associated with less morbidity for all conditions. A high land use diversity was consistently associated with lower morbidities, in particular among non-occupationally active individuals.
A high diversity in land use of neighbourhoods may be beneficial for physical and mental health of the inhabitants. If confirmed, this may be incorporated into urban planning, in particular regarding the diversity of greenspace.
•Less crowded neighbourhoods have both social and environmental benefits.•Greenspace near the home may be beneficial for physical and mental health.•A diverse land use in the neighbourhood may have health benefits for the residents.
The evidence from observational epidemiological studies of a link between long-term air pollution exposure and diabetes prevalence and incidence is currently mixed. Some studies found the strongest ...associations of diabetes with fine particles, other studies with nitrogen dioxide and some studies found no associations.
Our aim was to investigate associations between long-term exposure to multiple air pollutants and diabetes prevalence in a large national survey in the Netherlands.
We performed a cross-sectional analysis using the 2012 Dutch national health survey to investigate the associations between the 2009 annual average concentrations of multiple air pollutants (PM10, PM2.5, PM10−2.5, PM2.5 absorbance, OPDTT, OPESR and NO2) and diabetes prevalence, among 289,703 adults. Air pollution exposure was assessed by land use regression models. Diabetes was defined based on a combined measure of self-reported physician diagnosis and medication prescription from an external database. Using logistic regression, we adjusted for potential confounders, including neighborhood- and individual socio-economic status and lifestyle-related risk factors such as smoking habits, alcohol consumption, physical activity and BMI.
After adjustment for potential confounders, all pollutants (except PM2.5) were associated with diabetes prevalence. In two-pollutant models, NO2 and OPDTT remained associated with increased diabetes prevalence. For NO2 and OPDTT, single-pollutant ORs per interquartile range were 1.07 (95% CI: 1.05, 1.09) and 1.08 (95% CI: 1.05, 1.10), respectively. Stratified analysis showed no consistent effect modification by any of the included known diabetes risk factors.
Long-term residential air pollution exposure was associated with diabetes prevalence in a large health survey in the Netherlands, strengthening the evidence of air pollution being an important diabetes risk factor. Most consistent associations were observed for NO2 and oxidative potential of PM2.5 measured by the DTT assay. The finding of an association with the oxidative potential of fine particles but not with PM2.5, suggests that particle composition may be important for a potential effect on diabetes.
•Air pollution was associated with diabetes prevalence in a large Dutch health survey.•Most consistent associations were observed for NO2 and oxidative potential of PM2.5.•We found no evidence that associations were stronger in women than in men•We found stronger associations in physically active subjects.•Particle composition may play an important role in the potential effects on diabetes.
Geographical environments influence people's active mobility behaviors, contributing to their physical and mental health. The use of Virtual Reality (VR) in experimental research can unveil new ...insights into the relationship between exposure to geographic environments and active mobility behaviors. This systematic review aims to (1) identify environmental attributes investigated in relation with walking and cycling, using VR, (2) assess their impacts on active mobility behaviors and attitudes, and (3) identify research gaps, strengths and limitations in VR-based experimental research. Articles published between January 2010 and February 2022 within five databases (PubMed, Scopus, EBSCO, IEEE Xplore, and Cochrane Library) were explored using three keywords and their synonyms: Virtual Reality, Active mobility behavior, and Geographical environments. Studies focusing on indoor environments, driving simulation, disease-specific groups, non-relevant disciplines (e.g. military, emergency evacuation), VR methodology/software optimization, and those with static participants' involvement were excluded. The full protocol is available from PROSPERO (ID = CRD42022308366). Out of 3255 articles, 18 peer-reviewed papers met the selection criteria, mostly focusing on walking (83%). Most studies used head-mounted displays (94%) and relied on convenience sampling (72% below 100 participants). Both static (33%) and dynamic (45%) environmental attributes have been investigated, with only 22% of them simultaneously in the same virtual environment. Greenness and crowd density were the most frequent attributes, rather consistently associated with emotional states and movement behaviors. Few studies have taken into account participant's previous VR experience (33%) and cybersickness (39%) while both are likely to affect an individual's perception and behavior. Future research should explore a broader range of environmental attributes, including static and dynamic ones, as well as a more complex integration of these attributes within a single experiment to mimic the effect of realistic environments on people's active mobility behaviors and attitudes. Larger and more diverse population samples are deemed required to improve result generalizability. Despite methodological challenges, VR emerges as a promising tool to disentangle the effect of complex environments on active mobility behaviors.
Migrants experience substantial changes in their neighborhood physical and social environments along their migration journeys, but little is known about how perceived changes in their neighborhood ...environment pre- and post-migration correlate with their mental health. Our aim was to examine the associations between recalled changes in the perceived neighborhood physical and social environments and migrants' mental health in the host city.
We used cross-sectional data on 591 migrants in Shenzhen, China. We assessed their risk of mental illness using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). Neighborhood perceptions were collected retrospectively pre- and post-migration. We used random forests to analyze possibly non-linear associations between GHQ scores and changes in the neighborhood environment, variable importance, and for exploratory analysis of variable interactions.
Perceived changes in neighborhood aesthetics, safety, and green space were non-linearly associated with migrants' mental health: A decline in these characteristics was associated with poor mental health, while improvements in them were unrelated to mental health benefits. Variable importance showed that change in safety was the most influential neighborhood characteristic, although individual-level characteristics-such as self-reported physical health, personal income, and hukou (i.e., the Chinese household registration system)-appeared to be more important to explain GHQ scores and also strongly interacted with other variables. For physical health, we found different associations between changes in the neighborhood provoked by migration and mental health.
Our findings suggest that perceived degradations in the physical environment are related to poorer post-migration mental health. In addition, it seems that perceived changes in the neighborhood environment play a minor role compared to individual-level characteristics, in particular migrants' physical health condition. Replication of our findings in longitudinal settings is needed to exclude reverse causality.
This paper contributes to the limited number of investigations into the influence of the spatial configuration of land use and transport systems on mode choice for medium- and longer-distance travel ...(defined here as home-based trips of 50
km and over) in the Netherlands. We have employed data from the 1998 Netherlands National Travel Survey to address the question as to how socioeconomic factors, land use attributes, and travel time affect mode choice for medium- and longer-distance travel, and how their role varies across trip purposes: commuting, business, and leisure. The empirical analysis indicates that land use attributes and travel time considerations are important in explaining the variation in mode choice for medium- and longer-distance travel when controlling for the socioeconomic characteristics of travellers.
•We analyse weather effects on trip purpose, trip chaining, distance and mode choice.•We use national travel survey data, weather records and structural equation modelling.•Light, warm, calm and dry ...conditions may increase cycling and outdoor leisure.•Dark, cold, wet and windy conditions may enhance car use and trip chaining.•We find clear differences between Dutch, Norwegian and Swedish city regions.
With climate change, weather has emerged as an important theme in transport research and planning. Although recent studies demonstrate profound weather effects on mobility in single case study areas, international cross-comparisons are required to reveal how effects differ between cities with different transport and climate regimes. This paper provides an international cross-comparison of the simultaneous effects of weather on destination choices, distances, trip chaining, and transport modes in the urban regions of Utrecht (Netherlands), Oslo and Stavanger (Norway), and Stockholm (Sweden). Hereto, regional subsamples of national travel survey data were linked to meteorological records for the three respective countries and analysed in generalised Structural Equation Models. Our findings generally indicate that light, calm, dry and warm atmospheric conditions may positively affect cycling and the selection of outdoor leisure destinations, while cold and to a lesser extent wet and windy weather conditions reduce cycling and enhance car use and travel optimising strategies like trip chaining, to reduce weather exposures. A positive effect of air temperature on cycling flattens out above 20–25 °C in most of our study areas, but hot weather does not seem to reduce cycling strongly. However, our findings also show considerable regional differences in the effects of weather on mobility. Both general effects and differences are interpreted in relation to geographical context, transport and land use, climate conditions, cultures, habits and adaptations and are discussed to formulate policies to mitigate active transport mode users’ exposures to adverse weather and make walking and cycling (even more) year-round modes.
To improve our understanding of the neighborhood environment - physical activity (PA) relationship, it is of importance to assess associations between neighborhood environmental characteristics and ...neighborhood-based PA.
Participants' (N = 308; 45-65 years) light PA (LPA) and moderate-vigorous PA (MVPA) within a 400, 800, and 1600 m buffer around adults' homes was measured using accelerometers and GPS-devices. Land use data in ArcGIS provided neighborhood characteristics for the same buffers. Multilevel linear regression models, adjusted for socio-demographic variables and attitude towards PA, were used to assess associations of objective neighborhood characteristics with neighborhood-based LPA and MVPA.
LPA was positively associated with the proportions of roads (within a 400 m buffer), and negatively associated with the proportions of recreational areas (within an 800 m buffer), and the proportion of green space (within the 800 m and 1600 m buffers). Multiple characteristics of 400 m buffers were positively associated with MVPA, i.e. proportions of green space, blue space, residences, shops and foodservice industry, sports terrain, and public social-cultural facilities. Also, characteristics of larger buffers were positively associated with MVPA, i.e. the proportions of shops and foodservice industry, sports terrain, and blue space (within an 800 m buffer), and the proportion of public social-cultural facilities (within the 800 m and 1600 m buffers).
Objective neighborhood characteristics of smaller as well as larger sized buffers were associated with neighborhood-based LPA and MVPA. Green and blue spaces seem to be of particular importance for PA in the smallest buffer, i.e. in the direct surrounding of adults' homes.
Cycling for transportation has the potential to contribute to an increase in people's physical activity levels. A growing body of evidence links the natural and the built environment to cycling. ...Whereas previous studies were mostly done within one city or one region, the present study covers the whole of the Netherlands, allowing an investigation of whether associations between environmental characteristics and cycling are context-specific. The study examines the extent to which objectively measured natural and built environment characteristics contribute to cycling duration in the Netherlands, as well as the differential effect of environmental characteristics on cycling duration by municipality size.
Our sample from the Dutch National Travel Survey 2010-2014 comprised 110,027 people aged 20-89 years, residing in 3163 four-digit postal code areas, nested within 387 municipalities across the whole of the Netherlands. Multilevel Tobit regression models were fitted to assess the associations between the natural and the built environment with average daily cycling duration (in minutes), while adjusting for individual and household characteristics. Interaction effects of natural and built environment characteristics and municipality size on cycling duration were also investigated.
Higher address density, more bus stops, and shorter distance from home to the nearest train station were positively related to cycling duration. Respondents were more likely to cycle on days with higher temperatures, less wind, and less precipitation. Interaction tests showed that increased street density and address density were less cycling-promotive in small urban areas compared to medium or large cities. On the other hand, the positive association between number of bus stops and cycling duration was weaker in the largest and medium-sized cities compared to small urban and rural areas.
Interactions suggest that relations between environmental characteristics and cycling duration are context-specific (i.e., dependent on circumstances that differ between highly urbanized and less urbanized areas). Our findings need to be replicated in other countries to gain more insight into the interplay between environmental factors and municipality size.
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