Are people with lower incomes, mobility problems, or greater health risks facing these challenges in part because they live in areas that are not friendly to biking and walking? What factors in the environment may help them walk or bicycle more for transportation and recreation? This study is comparing the results of a physical activity survey of 650 respondents in Seattle with highly detailed parcel-level data from around their homes collected for the Walkable and Bikeable Communities Project. The University of Washington researchers will be paying special attention to the responses of people facing economic, health, and mobility challenges. They will also look at how the built environment affects walking for recreation versus transportation. Lee will use the results to write a guide describing what factors in the environment increase rates of walking and biking within neighborhoods. The guide will include GIS-based interactive maps to make it easy for policy-makers to use the research for decision-making.
