Title
Urban environment interventions linked to the promotion of physical activity: A mixed methods study applied to the urban context of Latin America
Date Issued
01 April 2015
Access level
open access
Resource Type
review
Author(s)
Gomez L.F.
Sarmiento R.
Ordoñez M.F.
Pardo C.F.
de Sá T.H.
Mallarino C.H.
Mosquera J.
Parra D.C.
Reis R.
Quistberg D.A.
CRÓNICAS, Centro de Excelencia en Enfermedades Crónicas
Publisher(s)
Elsevier Ltd
Abstract
This study summarizes the evidence from quantitative systematic reviews that assessed the association between urban environment attributes and physical activity. It also documents sociopolitical barriers and facilitators involved in urban interventions linked with active living in the ten most populated urban settings of Latin America. The synthesis of evidence indicates that several attributes of urban environments are associated with physical activity, including land-use mix and cycling infrastructure. The documentary analysis indicated that despite the benefits and opportunities provided by the programs and existing infrastructure in the examined cities, an overall concern is the rising inequality in the coverage and distribution of the initiatives in the region. If these programs and initiatives are to achieve a real population level effect that helps to reduce health disparities, they need to examine their social and spatial distribution within the cities so they can reach underserved populations and develop to their full potential.
Start page
18
End page
30
Volume
131
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ciencias del deporte y la aptitud física
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-84924192175
PubMed ID
Source
Social Science and Medicine
ISSN of the container
02779536
Sponsor(s)
This research was supported by a grant from the Pan American Health Organization, contract #11-05-2012. We would especially like to thank Margarita Ronderos, Head of the Department of Preventive Medicine from Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá for her support on this research project. We are also grateful with Olga Lucía Gómez, Diego Iván Lucumí, Carlos Mario Arango and Enrique Jacoby for their important comments regarding the contents of this article. Our special thanks to all the experts contacted for this research who were interested in giving advice for the documentary analysis: Claudio Olivares from Santiago, Mario Lanza from México City, Darío Hidalgo from Bogota, Jesenia Freitez and Ariana Tarhan from Caracas and Andrés Fingeret from Buenos Aires. We also like to thank Pedro Hallal who shed light on the scope and inclusion criteria of the systematic review of evidence. To Jorge Tinoco for his support in the literature search. Finally, our special gratitude to Social Science & Medicine editor and reviewers for their valuable inputs on this manuscript.
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus