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. 2009 Dec;15(4):1130-41.
doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2009.06.008. Epub 2009 Jul 4.

Mixed land use and walkability: Variations in land use measures and relationships with BMI, overweight, and obesity

Barbara B Brown  1 , Ikuho Yamada, Ken R Smith, Cathleen D Zick, Lori Kowaleski-Jones, Jessie X Fan
Affiliations

Mixed land use and walkability: Variations in land use measures and relationships with BMI, overweight, and obesity

Barbara B Brown et al. Health Place. 2009 Dec.

Abstract

Few studies compare alternative measures of land use diversity or mix in relationship to body mass index. We compare four types of diversity measures: entropy scores (measures of equal distributions of walkable land use categories), distances to walkable destinations (parks and transit stops), proxy measures of mixed use (walk to work measures and neighborhood housing ages), and land use categories used in entropy scores. Generalized estimating equations, conducted on 5000 randomly chosen licensed drivers aged 25-64 in Salt Lake County, Utah, relate lower BMIs to older neighborhoods, components of a 6-category land use entropy score, and nearby light rail stops. Thus the presence of walkable land uses, rather than their equal mixture, relates to healthy weight.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Examples of different land use configurations and entropy scores
Figure 1
Figure 1
Examples of different land use configurations and entropy scores
Figure 2
Figure 2
Sampled block groups, rail line and stops, bus stops and parks in the study region
Figure 3
Figure 3
Spatial distributions of average BMI: (a) male and (b) female.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Spatial distributions of the three entropy measures of mixed land use
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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