Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Apr 11;13(1):5867.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-32139-w.

Virtual reality assessment of walking in a modifiable urban environment: a feasibility and acceptability study

Katrina Oselinsky  1 , Amanda N Spitzer  2 , Yiqing Yu  2 , Francisco R Ortega  3 , Laura H Malinin  4 , Kelly A Curl  5 , Heather Leach  6   7 , Dan J Graham  2   6
Affiliations

Virtual reality assessment of walking in a modifiable urban environment: a feasibility and acceptability study

Katrina Oselinsky et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Physical activity is known to be one of the most health-beneficial behaviors, and salutogenic design modifications to the built environment can facilitate increased physical activity. Unfortunately, it is not often clear in advance which environmental and urban design implementations will generate increases in activities such as walking, and which will have little impact or even reduce walking. The present study tested the feasibility and acceptability of a virtual reality (VR) model for pre-testing urban designs for their impact on walking. Using a wearable VR head-mounted display/computer, young adults (n = 40) walked freely through a large indoor gymnasium, simultaneously walking through a virtual model of an urban streetscape that was designed to be modifiable and allow for testing impacts on walking of various changes to the urban environment. The majority of participants found the experience to be acceptable: pleasant and nonaversive, and they walked freely through the VR model for approximately 20 min, on average. Using modifiable VR models to pre-test built-environment changes for their impacts on walking behavior appears to be a feasible and acceptable approach and worthy of continued research investigation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
One of the authors wearing VR HMD and backpack computer.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Example scene from modifiable VR environment used in pilot research.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Example scene from modifiable VR environment used in pilot research.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Example scene from modifiable VR environment used in pilot research.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Study phases flow diagram.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Lee I-M, et al. Effect of physical inactivity on major non-communicable diseases worldwide: An analysis of burden of disease and life expectancy. Lancet. 2012;380:219–229. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)61031-9. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chakravarthy MV, Joyner MJ, Booth FW. An obligation for primary care physicians to prescribe physical activity to sedentary patients to reduce the risk of chronic health conditions. Mayo Clin. Proc. 2002;77:165–173. doi: 10.1016/S0025-6196(11)62331-8. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Manley AF. Physical Activity and Health: A Report of the Surgeon General. DIANE Publishing; 1996.
    1. Booth FW, Gordon SE, Carlson CJ, Hamilton MT. Waging war on modern chronic diseases: Primary prevention through exercise biology. J. Appl. Physiol. 2000;1985(88):774–787. doi: 10.1152/jappl.2000.88.2.774. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ding D, et al. The economic burden of physical inactivity: A global analysis of major non-communicable diseases. Lancet. 2016;388:1311–1324. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(16)30383-X. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types