Backgrouand

Active commuting to school can be a substantial opportunity to provide the necessary daily physical activity for children and to counteract childhood obesity. This paper examines the associations of urban form, in general, and street network design, in particular, with body mass index (BMI) in children aged between 12 and 16, controlling for socio-economic features (gender, educational attainment, income, and auto ownership) and daily physical activity (access mode to/from school and walking behaviour).

Methods

Data were drawn from questionnaires conducted in 20 elementary schools located in the Anatolian part of İstanbul, Turkey. Randomly selected 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students (N = 1784) completed questionnaires regarding their commuting modes to/from school while their parents (N = 1118) completed questionnaires about their socio-economic characteristics and their children's daily physical activity. Each student's BMI was calculated by measured height and weight data. Home- and school-environments (800-and 1600-m buffers around the respondent and school) were evaluated through GIS-based land-use data and segment-based street connectivity measures. Selected street segments within school-environments were also audited with regard to pedestrian environment characteristics.

Results

Findings indicate that children who actively commuted to/from school had lower BMIs than non-active commuters. More importantly, it is shown that increased street network connectivity measured at the segment-level is significantly associated with reduced BMI in school children. In fact, connectivity measures appear to be the strongest correlates of BMI.

Conclusions

This study provides important evidence for planners, urban designers, and policy makers on the significance of built environment, in general, and street network configuration, in particular, within home- and school-environments. One rule of thumb would be to design a well-connected street network with relatively denser connections and reduced direction changes within the neighbourhood – not only within a couple of blocks of homes and schools but also within their larger fabric (800–1600 mt buffers).

中文翻译：

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儿童BMI的家庭和学校环境关联

Backgrouand

积极通勤上学可能是为儿童提供必要的日常体育锻炼并抵抗儿童肥胖的重要机会。本文研究了一般的城市形态与街道网络设计之间的关联，尤其是与12到16岁儿童的体重指数（BMI）之间的关联，控制了社会经济特征（性别，教育程度，收入和自动拥有）和日常体育活动（往返学校和步行行为的访问方式）。

方法

数据来自在土耳其伊斯坦布尔安纳托利亚地区的20所小学进行的问卷调查。随机选择的6年级，7年级和8年级学生（N = 1784）完成了关于上下班通勤方式的问卷，而父母（N = 1118）完成了关于他们的社会经济特征和孩子的日常体育活动的问卷。通过测量身高和体重数据计算每个学生的BMI。通过基于GIS的土地使用数据和基于路段的街道连通性措施，评估了家庭和学校环境（在受访者和学校周围800和1600米的缓冲区）。还对行人环境特征的学校环境中选定的街道段进行了审核。

结果

研究结果表明，主动上下学的孩子的BMI值比不经常上下班的孩子低。更重要的是，它表明，在段级别衡量的增加的街道网络连通性与学童的BMI降低显着相关。实际上，连接性措施似乎是BMI的最强关联。

结论

这项研究为规划人员，城市设计师和政策制定者提供了重要的证据，证明了建筑环境的重要性，尤其是街道网络配置，尤其是在家庭和学校环境中。一条经验法则是设计一个连接良好的街道网络，该网络的连接相对密集，并且邻域内的方向变化减少-不仅在几个家庭和学校中，而且在较大的结构中（800-1600 mt缓冲区） 。