These guidelines have been developed as a menu of interventions to guide policy makers and local authorities in planning, designing and realizing NMT facilities. Their objective is to increase the capacity of engineers, designers, planners and others involved in urban construction to create safe, intermodal urban transport systems.

Societies face the challenge of keeping people active as they age. Walkable neighborhoods have been associated with physical activity, but more rigorous analytical approaches are needed. Researchers used longitudinal data from adult residents of Brisbane, Australia (40–65 years of age at baseline) to estimate effects of changes in neighborhood characteristics over a 6-y period on the likelihood of walking for transport.

Original Source

Physical inactivity is an important cause of noncommunicable diseases. Interventions can increase short-term physical activity (PA), but health benefits require maintenance. Few interventions have evaluated PA objectively beyond 12 months. We followed up two pedometer interventions with positive 12-month effects to examine objective PA levels at 3–4 years.

Original Source

Walkability is a crucial first step in creating sustainable transportation in an urban environment. Effectively understanding and measuring the complex ecology of walkability has proven challenging for many organizations and governments, given the various levels of policy-making and implementation involved.

This publication is a major update of the “Training document on public awareness and behaviour change in sustainable transport” published in 2006 by GIZ.

The aim of this study was to examine cross-sectional associations between objectively measured sedentary time and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-assessed adiposity in a population at high risk for type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and to determine whether associations are modified by the recommended levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA).

Original Source

Free speed, the key parameter in the modelling of pedestrian flow, is the speed that a pedestrian desires to walk at. In this study free speed of pedestrians considering characteristics such as age, gender, and with or without luggage in ascending and descending stairways located on platforms in suburban and intercity railway stations was examined. Due to difficulty in observing free speed directly, an approach for developing distributions of speeds at varying levels of pedestrian density is proposed to estimate free speed precisely.

To be able to curb the global pandemic of physical inactivity and the associated 5.3 million deaths per year, we need to understand the basic principles that govern physical activity. However, there is a lack of large-scale measurements of physical activity patterns across free-living populations worldwide. Here we leverage the wide usage of smartphones with built-in accelerometry to measure physical activity at the global scale. We study a dataset consisting of 68 million days of physical activity for 717,527 people, giving us a window into activity in 111 countries across the globe.

Previous studies indicate that the design of streets and sidewalks can influence physical activity among residents. Park features also influence park use and park-based physical activity. Although individuals can walk on streets and sidewalks, walking loops in parks offer a setting to walk in nature and to avoid interruptions from traffic. Here the researchers describe the use of walking loops in parks and compare the number of park users and their physical activity in urban neighborhood parks with and without walking loops.

An analysis of the factors which led to Delhi experiencing one of its worst smog episodes in recent years in November of 2016 has been documented in this report. The report suggests source wise action status and a detailed plan of action for Delhi to combat the worsening air quality in the city.

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