Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
PLANLAMA-PLANNING, cilt.28, sa.2, ss.236-251, 2018 (ESCI)
In recent years, the importance of physical activity for the prevention of child obesity has been emphasized. Children are recommended to participate in 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) at least 3 days per week. Without doubt, designing activity spaces for children in urban areas is a necessity. Spatial features that may encourage physical activity are still being discussed and numerous studies have produced unclear findings. This research is an examination of children's activity (intensity and duration) around their home and school, including analysis of how personal, physical, and social environment characteristics influence where children choose to be active (increase in intensity and duration of activity). The activity of a total of 47 children who were between 9 and 12 years old was monitored via accelerometer and geographic positioning systems devices for 7 days. The frequency and intensity of activity in green areas, streets, and open spaces around the children's home and school were analyzed and compared. The results indicated that children tended to be active on the streets near the home and the school yard more often, rather than in other settings (such as green areas or open spaces). However, the intensity of the activity was greater in green areas around the home. The results also indicated that the environment around a child's school is as important as the area in close vicinity to the home (neighborhood) to increase children's physical activity. Moreover, the findings also indicated that children choose MVPA locations based on physical (destination density, distances) and social environment characteristics (parent encouragement of physical activity, transportation mode that parents tend to use, attendance at a public or private school), as well as their individual characteristics (gender, body mass index). In addition to the findings, the study also makes an important contribution to the discipline of urban design with the original methodology used to determine the locations of children's physical activity.