Effects of multifunctional facility on daily walking time
- Date:
- March 26, 2025
- Source:
- Osaka Metropolitan University
- Summary:
- A researcher examined the impact of opening a multifunctional facility on residents' daily walking time. The results indicate that the facility significantly increased the average walking time of visitors compared to non-visitors.
- Share:
Designing walkable neighborhoods has gained attention as a method to increase physical activity among urban populations. Moreover, highly walkable areas stimulate increased neighborhood retail sales, higher property values, and greater urban sustainability. However, only limited methods are available for improving walkability in the urban centers of highly motorized suburban cities. In the urban areas of suburban cities, increasing land-use diversity by opening a multifunctional facility is considered one of the most effective strategies for an architecture-scale intervention.
Dr. Haruka Kato, a junior associate professor at Osaka Metropolitan University, examined the impact of a new multifunctional facility on residents' daily walking time. This experiment analyzed the case of the Ibaraki City Cultural and Childcare Complex ONIKURU, a public multifunctional facility designed by famed Japanese architect Toyo Ito.
The results revealed that the opening of ONIKURU significantly increased the average walking time of visitors by 3.165 min/day compared to non-visitors. Specifically, visitors' average walking time improved to a level comparable to non-visitors' after the facility opened. In addition, the opening of the facility significantly increased female young adults' average walking time by 3.385 min/day. Therefore, this study provides theoretical contributions to building a health-promoting environment that affects walking through architecture-scale intervention.
"These findings highlight essential considerations for urban planners aiming to design health-promoting built environments in urban centers," said Dr. Kato. "This research used GPS-trajectory data, which succeeded in calculating the effect of one multifunctional facility among many land uses from the perspective of average daily walking time. This contribution provided significant insights into the causality between land use and physical activity."
Story Source:
Materials provided by Osaka Metropolitan University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
- Haruka Kato. Daily walking time effects of the opening of a multifunctional facility “ONIKURU” using propensity score matching and GPS tracking techniques. Scientific Reports, 2024; 14 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-82232-x
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