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Review
. 2020 Mar 31;17(7):2359.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph17072359.

The Role of Urban Morphology Design on Enhancing Physical Activity and Public Health

Sadegh Fathi  1 , Hassan Sajadzadeh  1 , Faezeh Mohammadi Sheshkal  1 , Farshid Aram  2 , Gergo Pinter  3 , Imre Felde  3 , Amir Mosavi  4   5   6   7   8
Affiliations
Review

The Role of Urban Morphology Design on Enhancing Physical Activity and Public Health

Sadegh Fathi et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Along with environmental pollution, urban planning has been connected to public health. The research indicates that the quality of built environments plays an important role in reducing mental disorders and overall health. The structure and shape of the city are considered as one of the factors influencing happiness and health in urban communities and the type of the daily activities of citizens. The aim of this study was to promote physical activity in the main structure of the city via urban design in a way that the main form and morphology of the city can encourage citizens to move around and have physical activity within the city. Functional, physical, cultural-social, and perceptual-visual features are regarded as the most important and effective criteria in increasing physical activities in urban spaces, based on literature review. The environmental quality of urban spaces and their role in the physical activities of citizens in urban spaces were assessed by using the questionnaire tool and analytical network process (ANP) of structural equation modeling. Further, the space syntax method was utilized to evaluate the role of the spatial integration of urban spaces on improving physical activities. Based on the results, consideration of functional diversity, spatial flexibility and integration, security, and the aesthetic and visual quality of urban spaces plays an important role in improving the physical health of citizens in urban spaces. Further, more physical activities, including motivation for walking and the sense of public health and happiness, were observed in the streets having higher linkage and space syntax indexes with their surrounding texture.

Keywords: Society 5.0; analytical network process; health; health economics; health informatics; health information systems; physical activities; public health; public space; smart cities; sustainability; urban health; urban morphology; urban planning; urbanization.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Urban morphology criteria.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Radial form of the structure of Hamadan. Reference: Google Earth. 4 July, 2019.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Different steps of the study.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Overall integration of the main structure of city.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Local integration of the main structure of city.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Depth of the main structure of city.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Connectivity in the main structure of city.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Criteria and sub-criteria weight.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Prioritizing the criteria and the sub-criteria affecting physical activities.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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