Exploring the associations between neighborhood greenness and level of physical activity of older adults in shanghai

This research builds upon recent interest in the associations between neighborhood greenness and public health to further examine the linkage between green spaces and physical activity in older adults at a neighborhood level. We are interested in the impact of green space metrics between predictors of whether physical activity occurs and how much physical activity occurs. To better understand these relationships, we employed the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ) scale to analyze two distinct types of physical activities: recreational activities and active transportation. We utilized several technical estimations (e.g., machine learning) to extract multiple types of neighborhood greenness features while also including the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), park size, proximity, and Green View Index (GVI). We employed data from the World Health Organization (WHO) Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health (Wave 1) in Shanghai, which contained 4555 samples from 23 neighborhoods. The retired and healthier older people were more likely to do physical activities. For different purposes of physical activity, the impact of the built environment is different.The results of our multilevel two-part model show that only GVI improves the likelihood of total physical activity and active transportation occurring. Green space was shown to be effective at encouraging people to undertake physical activity, while for older people, health condition and socioeconomic characteristics were stronger influences on the amount of physical activity undertaken. Our results confirmed that the inconsistent association between built environment (green space) and physical activity may be due to a lack of clear difference between purpose and stage of physical activity. • We used remote sensing and machine learning techniques to assess several types of local greenness. • We distinguished the influence of green space on physical activity and the amount of physical activity that happens. • Two part model found only the Green View Index increases the chance of overall physical activity and active transportation.