Neighborhood walkability as a health infrastructure that supports the super-aging society of Japan

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24720373
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Human geography
• Research Institution: Chuo University (2013-2015); The University of Tokyo (2012)
• Principal Investigator: YAMADA Ikuho 中央大学, 理工学部, 教授 (00594756)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: ウォーカビリティ / 近隣住環境 / 身体活動 / 超高齢社会 / 地理情報システム (GIS) / 健康

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research investigated potential association between walkability of neighborhoods and health status of residents based upon objective indices of neighborhood environments derived from spatial and other statistical databases as well as residents’ subjective evaluations of environments and their own health obtained from a questionnaire survey. This research found spatial distributional patterns of walkability indices and their mutual associations. A questionnaire survey conducted in Fukuroi City, Shizuoka Prefecture, indicated that residents’ subjective evaluations of neighborhood walkability varied spatially and that some walkability indices used in preceding research in western countries might not work well in Japanese urban structures.

Free Research Field

空間情報科学、都市空間解析、医療健康地理学