Research On The Impact Of Built Environment On Residents' Health From Multi-dimensional Perspective

OBJECTIVE:With the development of urbanization,urban residents generally lack physical activity.New health problems are turning to chronic diseases.Numerous studies have shown that regular physical activity can effectively reduce the risk of preventable chronic diseases.Environmental improvements can provide health benefits by promoting physical activity.However,the urban form and social environment of Chinese cities are significantly different from that of many Western cities.It is not clear whether the associations between environmental characteristics and physical activity from Western cities can be directly applied to China.However,evidence of non-first-tier Chinese cities with lower density is lacking.Based on the above background,this paper focuses on the behavior and health outcomes of individuals,trying to explore the basic relationship between community environment and residents' health.Taking the downtown area of Dalian city as an example,this paper analyzes the spatial characteristics of built environment,the differences of different measurement methods and scales,and the interactive relationship between built environment elements,behavioral activities and health results from a multi-dimensional perspective,and establishes a theoretical research framework of environment and health.By constructing a comprehensive data set with multi-source data fusion,this paper analyzes the influence of residential environment on health outcomes from a multidimensional perspective.Multi-dimensional perspective includes research content,data characteristics and measurement methods.First,the environment in this paper includes built environment,natural environment and social environment.Second,the environment includes the plane dimension perspective of built environment(density,land use,street connection,slope,etc.,obtained from map data)and the natural environment(green space acquired by remote sensing image data),vertical perspective of street environment(sky scale,building enclosure,street furniture,etc.,obtained from street view images),the quality of urban design(quality of microenvironment design acquired through auditing tools),and the social dimension perspective(perceived and social environment acquired through subjective reports).Finally,measurement methods include plane to vertical,objective measurement to subjective evaluation,different measurement methods and measurement scales,as well as the interactions between multiple factors.METHODS:The associations of built environment,natural environment,and social environments on health outcomes in plane latitudes include two aspects.First,the study explores the impact of the social-demographic characteristics,both objective and perceived environment,natural environment,and social environment on physical activity and health outcomes.Second,this paper exams the differences between different measurement methods,and the interaction between various factors,using perceived environment as a mediator and social environment as a moderator.In addition,the relationships between vertical latitude environments and health outcomes include street environment and urban design quality.The street level environment is obtained using deep learning method.The influence of urban design quality and micro-environment on walking is analyzed through multi-stage stratified sampling.In this article,the objective environment is measured through multi-source data.Green space is defined by standardized vegetation index,park accessibility,and green view index.The perceived environment is obtained by Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale.Health outcomes include physical activity(moderate/vigorous physical activity and walking obtained by International Physical Activity Questionnaire),psychological(sense of community),physiological(body mass index)and self-reported health status(i.e.,mental disease,diabetes,cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases).The measurement scale includes four different buffer radius(400m,800m,1200m,1600m).RESULTS:In general,this study demonstrates that both objective and perceived environment factors have significant impacts on physical and mental health in Dalian.The association of density,connectivity,the availability of service facilities,neighborhood quality with physical activity and/or walking,which has been found to be linked in research in first-tier cities,also holds true in Dalian.Green space has a significant impact on walking at all scales,but with a weak linear relationship.Especially,we find that the objectively measured slope is related to BMI;residents living in the neighborhood with more steep slopes have lower BMI.Also,aesthetics and safety play an essential role between built environment and physical activity.This research provides new insights that high density facilitated engagement in physical activity but hindered the sense of community which also had influences with physical activity.In addition,urban design quality(imageability,human scale,transparency)and micro-walking environment have significant impact on pedestrian walking.CONCLUSION:The urban built environment,natural environment,micro-environment and social environment all can influence the behavior and health results.Residential environment needs to be further improved to provide health benefits.Besides of traditional urban planning,the facilities' spatial equity,green space,health-oriented design and social environment construction are also of practical value.