Associations between streetscape characteristics at Chinese adolescents' activity places and active travel patterns on weekdays and weekends

Abstract

Background: Adolescents' daily active travel (AT) has positive health effects. However, previous studies had paid little attention on the differences between the streetscape characteristics-AT relationship on the weekdays and weekends, and most of them only focused on the environmental exposure around home and schools. Methods: This study used data from a survey (N = 476) in Guangzhou, China between April and September 2018 and streetscape images from the Tencent Map. By using the Hurdle models and the Tobit models, we examined the associations between the streetscape characteristics and AT patterns (i.e., frequency and duration) among adolescents on weekdays and weekend days. Results: Streetscape greenery was negatively associated with odds of AT and positively associated with the number of AT trips on weekdays, while it was negatively related to AT duration on weekends. Pavement ratio and traffic volume were negatively associated with odds of AT and AT duration on weekdays. Safety facilities and street vitality were positively associated with the AT frequency and AT duration on weekends and weekdays. Our stratified analyses indicated that gender is an effect modifier of the built environment-AT patterns associations. Conclusion: The results showed that the relationships between streetscape characteristics and AT patterns differed between weekdays and weekends. Streetscape characteristics related to the odds of AT were not necessarily the same as those associated with AT intensity. These findings offer practical guidance for creating sustainable cities in China through AT promotion.