To determine whether selected features of the built environment can predict weight gain in a large longitudinal cohort of adults.
Weight trajectories over a 5-year period were obtained from ...electronic health records for 115,260 insured patients aged 18-64 years in the Kaiser Permanente Washington health care system. Home addresses were geocoded using ArcGIS. Built environment variables were population, residential unit, and road intersection densities captured using Euclidean-based SmartMaps at 800-m buffers. Counts of area supermarkets and fast food restaurants were obtained using network-based SmartMaps at 1600, and 5000-m buffers. Property values were a measure of socioeconomic status. Linear mixed effects models tested whether built environment variables at baseline were associated with long-term weight gain, adjusting for sex, age, race/ethnicity, Medicaid insurance, body weight, and residential property values.
Built environment variables at baseline were associated with differences in baseline obesity prevalence and body mass index but had limited impact on weight trajectories. Mean weight gain for the full cohort was 0.06 kg at 1 year (95% CI: 0.03, 0.10); 0.64 kg at 3 years (95% CI: 0.59, 0.68), and 0.95 kg at 5 years (95% CI: 0.90, 1.00). In adjusted regression models, the top tertile of density metrics and frequency counts were associated with lower weight gain at 5-years follow-up compared to the bottom tertiles, though the mean differences in weight change for each follow-up year (1, 3, and 5) did not exceed 0.5 kg.
Built environment variables that were associated with higher obesity prevalence at baseline had limited independent obesogenic power with respect to weight gain over time. Residential unit density had the strongest negative association with weight gain. Future work on the influence of built environment variables on health should also examine social context, including residential segregation and residential mobility.
•Reviewing thermal comfort models in different aspects.•Analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of all the models in the review.•Interpreting the importance of the models in different ...environments.•Suggesting some future developing directions of thermal comfort models.
In the past several years, thermal comfort, especially development and application of thermal comfort model, has been a research focus of building environment. Since the 1970s, a series of thermal comfort models based on people's thermal sensation to environment have been established, and gradually became an important part of the field of thermal comfort research. In this review, the existing thermal comfort models are summarized from various perspectives, such as models applied in different environments like sleeping environment and outdoor environment. Besides, models used for different groups people, such as elderly and different races are discussed. In the part, adaptive models are mentioned. In additions, data-driven models were reviewed. This paper introduced the advantages and disadvantages of each model. Based on the above review, future research work of thermal comfort model is proposed.
Preface to the CISBAT 2023 Journal of Physics: Conference Series special issue CISBAT 2023 took place from 13 to 15 September 2023 at the Swiss Tech Convention Center on the campus of the Ecole ...Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland as well as online through a dedicated hybrid platform. Hosted jointly by EPFL and the Smart Living Lab, a research centre on the future of the built environment bringing together researchers from EPFL, the University of Fribourg and HEIA-FR, the School of Engineering and Architecture of Fribourg, this was the 17 th edition of the conference organised at EPFL and the 1 st under the aegis of the Smart Living Lab. Offering an international platform for scientific exchange on the advances emanating from research towards a more sustainable built environment, CISBAT 2023 assembled 400 participants from universities and companies around the World for three days of presentations, workshops, networking events and visits. List of Editorial Committee, Steering Committee, Sponsors, Scientific Committee, Programming Committee, Invited keynote speakers & panelists, Session chairs, Conference management are available in this pdf.
Abstract Regenerative approaches have gained attention in the built environment, but remain highly conceptual. This position paper argues for new regenerative governance structures that consider data ...governance, reassess complex stakeholder interactions, and ensure the inclusivity of diverse values and ownership. It then presents early ideas on how blockchain technology could facilitate scalable socio-economic-ecologic interactions along three inquiries, giving practical examples. Overall, the paper aims to inspire and guide further research into the development of modern digital governance tools fostering a regenerative built environment.
Background
Prevention of childhood obesity is an international public health priority given the significant impact of obesity on acute and chronic diseases, general health, development and ...well‐being. The international evidence base for strategies to prevent obesity is very large and is accumulating rapidly. This is an update of a previous review.
Objectives
To determine the effectiveness of a range of interventions that include diet or physical activity components, or both, designed to prevent obesity in children.
Search methods
We searched CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, PsychINFO and CINAHL in June 2015. We re‐ran the search from June 2015 to January 2018 and included a search of trial registers.
Selection criteria
Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of diet or physical activity interventions, or combined diet and physical activity interventions, for preventing overweight or obesity in children (0‐17 years) that reported outcomes at a minimum of 12 weeks from baseline.
Data collection and analysis
Two authors independently extracted data, assessed risk‐of‐bias and evaluated overall certainty of the evidence using GRADE. We extracted data on adiposity outcomes, sociodemographic characteristics, adverse events, intervention process and costs. We meta‐analysed data as guided by the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions and presented separate meta‐analyses by age group for child 0 to 5 years, 6 to 12 years, and 13 to 18 years for zBMI and BMI.
Main results
We included 153 RCTs, mostly from the USA or Europe. Thirteen studies were based in upper‐middle‐income countries (UMIC: Brazil, Ecuador, Lebanon, Mexico, Thailand, Turkey, US‐Mexico border), and one was based in a lower middle‐income country (LMIC: Egypt). The majority (85) targeted children aged 6 to 12 years.
Children aged 0‐5 years: There is moderate‐certainty evidence from 16 RCTs (n = 6261) that diet combined with physical activity interventions, compared with control, reduced BMI (mean difference (MD) −0.07 kg/m2, 95% confidence interval (CI) −0.14 to −0.01), and had a similar effect (11 RCTs, n = 5536) on zBMI (MD −0.11, 95% CI −0.21 to 0.01). Neither diet (moderate‐certainty evidence) nor physical activity interventions alone (high‐certainty evidence) compared with control reduced BMI (physical activity alone: MD −0.22 kg/m2, 95% CI −0.44 to 0.01) or zBMI (diet alone: MD −0.14, 95% CI −0.32 to 0.04; physical activity alone: MD 0.01, 95% CI −0.10 to 0.13) in children aged 0‐5 years.
Children aged 6 to 12 years: There is moderate‐certainty evidence from 14 RCTs (n = 16,410) that physical activity interventions, compared with control, reduced BMI (MD −0.10 kg/m2, 95% CI −0.14 to −0.05). However, there is moderate‐certainty evidence that they had little or no effect on zBMI (MD −0.02, 95% CI −0.06 to 0.02). There is low‐certainty evidence from 20 RCTs (n = 24,043) that diet combined with physical activity interventions, compared with control, reduced zBMI (MD −0.05 kg/m2, 95% CI −0.10 to −0.01). There is high‐certainty evidence that diet interventions, compared with control, had little impact on zBMI (MD −0.03, 95% CI −0.06 to 0.01) or BMI (−0.02 kg/m2, 95% CI −0.11 to 0.06).
Children aged 13 to 18 years: There is very low‐certainty evidence that physical activity interventions, compared with control reduced BMI (MD −1.53 kg/m2, 95% CI −2.67 to −0.39; 4 RCTs; n = 720); and low‐certainty evidence for a reduction in zBMI (MD ‐0.2, 95% CI −0.3 to ‐0.1; 1 RCT; n = 100). There is low‐certainty evidence from eight RCTs (n = 16,583) that diet combined with physical activity interventions, compared with control, had no effect on BMI (MD −0.02 kg/m2, 95% CI −0.10 to 0.05); or zBMI (MD 0.01, 95% CI −0.05 to 0.07; 6 RCTs; n = 16,543). Evidence from two RCTs (low‐certainty evidence; n = 294) found no effect of diet interventions on BMI.
Direct comparisons of interventions: Two RCTs reported data directly comparing diet with either physical activity or diet combined with physical activity interventions for children aged 6 to 12 years and reported no differences.
Heterogeneity was apparent in the results from all three age groups, which could not be entirely explained by setting or duration of the interventions. Where reported, interventions did not appear to result in adverse effects (16 RCTs) or increase health inequalities (gender: 30 RCTs; socioeconomic status: 18 RCTs), although relatively few studies examined these factors.
Re‐running the searches in January 2018 identified 315 records with potential relevance to this review, which will be synthesised in the next update.
Authors' conclusions
Interventions that include diet combined with physical activity interventions can reduce the risk of obesity (zBMI and BMI) in young children aged 0 to 5 years. There is weaker evidence from a single study that dietary interventions may be beneficial.
However, interventions that focus only on physical activity do not appear to be effective in children of this age. In contrast, interventions that only focus on physical activity can reduce the risk of obesity (BMI) in children aged 6 to 12 years, and adolescents aged 13 to 18 years. In these age groups, there is no evidence that interventions that only focus on diet are effective, and some evidence that diet combined with physical activity interventions may be effective. Importantly, this updated review also suggests that interventions to prevent childhood obesity do not appear to result in adverse effects or health inequalities.
The review will not be updated in its current form. To manage the growth in RCTs of child obesity prevention interventions, in future, this review will be split into three separate reviews based on child age.
Building information modelling (BIM) and geographical information systems (GIS) provide digital representation of architectural and environmental entities. BIM focuses on micro-level representation ...of buildings themselves, and GIS provide macro-level representation of the external environments of buildings. Moreover, their combination can establish a comprehensive view of a built environment based on data integrated, which underpins the development and transition of the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industries in the digital era. This paper gives a comprehensive review on BIM-GIS integration in sustainable built environments in order to analyse the status quo and practical applications from four viewpoints: technologies for data integration, applications in the life cycle of AEC projects, building energy management, and urban governance. Three typical modes of BIM-GIS integration, namely, “BIM leads and GIS supports”, “GIS leads and BIM supports”, and “BIM and GIS are equally involved”, are categorised based on the different dominant positions of the two technologies. Furthermore, the research trends and future directions for the applications of BIM-GIS integration are discussed. Specifically, we underline that semantic models and third-party integration platforms should be optimised technically, and information about the whole process of AEC projects needs to be improved. Comprehensive information for building energy management should be digitised and quantified to improve its systematic integration and application to the urban built environment. This review can serve as a roadmap for researchers who focus on studies of BIM-GIS integration in the sustainable built environment.
This paper reviews the applications of BIM-GIS integration in the field of the sustainable built environment, analyses the status quo and practical applications of such integration, and discusses research trends for its future development. Firstly, relevant literature on BIM-GIS integration is collected, quantified and analysed according to multiple indicators such as journals and keywords. Secondly, the status and practical applications of BIM-GIS integration are described and analysed from four perspectives: data integration, the life cycle of AEC projects, building energy management and urban governance. Finally, research trends and prospects for the development of integrated BIM-GIS applications are discussed. This review aims to provide a roadmap for researchers who focus on studies of BIM-GIS integration in the sustainable built environment and to expand its range of applications in sustainable urban development. Display omitted
•A detailed roadmap for research on the integration of BIM and GIS is provided.•A bibliometric analysis is used to quantitatively review literature from multiple viewpoints.•A critical review is conducted from four major perspectives of BIM and GIS applications.•The limitations of existing studies and future research directions are discussed.
Purpose of Review
To review the literature on built environment interventions to increase active travel, focusing on work since 2000 and on methodological choices and challenges affecting studies.
...Recent Findings
Increasingly, there is evidence that built environment interventions can lead to more walking or cycling. Evidence is stronger for cycling than for walking interventions, and there is a relative lack of evidence around differential impacts of interventions. Some of the evidence remains methodologically weak, with much work in the ‘grey’ literature.
Summary
While evidence in the area continues to grow, data gaps remain. Greater use of quasi-experimental techniques, improvements in routine monitoring of smaller schemes, and the use of new big data sources are promising. More qualitative research could help develop a more sophisticated understanding of behaviour change.
This paper explores patterns of increased/ decreased physical activity, sedentary and sleep behaviours among Canadian children and youth aged 5-17 years during the COVID-19 pandemic, and examines how ...these changes are associated with the built environment near residential locations. A cluster analysis identified two groups who were primarily distinguished by the changes in outdoor activities. Compliance to 24-hour movement guidelines was low among both groups. For children, houses (versus apartments) was correlated with increased outdoor activities; proximity to major roads was a barrier. For youth, low dwelling density, and access to parks in high-density neighbourhoods, increased the odds of increased outdoor activities during the pandemic. Our findings can inform future urban and health crisis planning practices by providing new insights into the desirable public health messaging and characteristics of healthy and resilient communities.
•Changes in 11 different movement behaviours, sedentary activities and sleep during COVID-19 pandemic were explored.•Cluster analysis identified two groups, primarily distinguished by increased (44%) versus decreased (56%) outdoor activities.•More children/youth with increased outdoor activities were meeting the physical activity and 24-h movement guidelines.•For children, living in a house (vs. apartments) encouraged outdoor activities; proximity to major streets was a barrier.•For youth, low dwelling density, and access to parks in high-density neighbourhoods had positive effects.
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