Assessing leisure time physical activity (ltpa) experience in urban. Stream corridors: a baseline for inclusive ltpa promotion

Abstract

Leisure-Time Physical Activity (LTPA) in urban stream corridors is of paramount importance for health and wellbeing promotion among urban dwellers. LTPA experience, namely how (what, with whom, when and where) and why LTPA is practised in particular places, is influenced by various social and physical environmental factors which the stream users may perceive differently. Therefore, an improved understanding of how stream users perceive environmental factors may provide relevant insights and inform on strategies intended to support inclusive LTPA promotion. To this end, combining ecological models with a qualitative Geographic Information System (qGIS) methodology is valuable. The ecological models provide a comprehensive theoretical framework which helps understand the environmental factors that influence LTPA, whilst the qualitative research methods serve to reveal any hidden meanings related to individual experiences behind factors. The collected data combined with GIS, enable the exploration of subjective perceptions of the environment with reference to its spatial dimension. Therefore, this study assessed users’ perceptions of the environmental factors that influence LTPA experiences in the Caldes Stream corridor, in the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona. Accordingly, a sequential mixed methodology based on qualitative ecological approach integrated with GIS was developed in two phases. First, in-depth map-based and go-along interviews allowed for: 1) the categorization of the different types of stream users according to their characteristics and motivations for LTPA, 2) the identification of the social and physical environmental factors influencing LTPA, 3) the assessment of factors as either barriers or facilitators to LTPA for each type of stream user according to their perceptions (Paper 1). Secondly, given that the safety issue emerged as a key factor influencing women LTPA in the Caldes Stream corridor, the analysis of the relationship between environmental factors and women’s perceptions of safety was undertaken. In-depth interviews with women were further analysed for: 4) the identification of the environmental factors related to women’s perceptions of safety in the stream corridor, and 5) the design of a safety map able to represent both the women’s general and individual perceptions of safety. For the creation of this analytical tool environmental factors were translated into spatial indicators, women’s perceptions were geo-located, and the resultant data was integrated into qGIS (Paper 2). Findings of the present study provided a greater understanding of the different ways in which different users interpret and interact with urban stream corridors when practising LTPA. Specifically, different types of users perceived environmental factors influencing LTPA as either barriers or facilitators contradictorily or coincidentally depending on their motivations for LTPA and their gender. The major conflicts related to divergent perceptions between genders depended on perceptions of safety (Paper 1). Perceptions of safety among women were related to environmental factors, yet they were mediated by women’s socio-cultural background and everyday practices. Against this backdrop, the safety map based on a qualitative GIS approach designed for this study, allowed the assessment of the macro-scale spatial indicators of the environmental factors and the micro-scale of women’s narratives on perceptions of safety from an integrated perspective. The macro-scale perspective provided a general explanation for the phenomenon and helped visualise conflicting domains of interventions. The micro-scale produced deeper and detailed insights into the perception of safety by comparing the big picture with women’s narratives (Paper 2). These findings suggest that 1) the characterisation of types of users according to their motivations for practicing LTPA in green environments and 2) their gender perspective should be at the forefront of inclusive LTPA promotion strategies. At this regard, qGIS analytical tools aimed at identifying the particular needs of the specific types of users could support the customisation of interventions by providing knowledge on the tangible and intangible dimensions associated to the different LTPA experiences. Basing on this knowledge, LTPA promotion policies should combine the provision of physical infrastructure suitable for the different types of users, and long-term educational programs addressed to overcome the limiting effects of certain socio-cultural backgrounds. This research has shown that the thorough understanding of the users’ LTPA experience in urban stream corridors provides significant knowledge to inform policies for inclusive LTPA promotion, thus mitigating the risk of health inequalities among different types of stream users.