Does walkability differ by area sociodemographic profile? A study of Madrid City

Several studies have focused on the relevance of walkable neighborhoods to improve population’s physical activity. In order to address physical activity inequalities, it is important to understand how walkability differs by... [ view full abstract ]

Several studies have focused on the relevance of walkable neighborhoods to improve population’s physical activity. In order to address physical activity inequalities, it is important to understand how walkability differs by area sociodemographics. Our objective was to study the relationship between area-sociodemographic profile and walkability in the census sections of the municipality Madrid, Spain (n=2407). Sociodemographic predictors used were area-level of education (% of people with low education level) and immigration (% of foreign people), stratified into quintiles (Q); Q5 represents the census sections with the lowest educational level or presence of foreign individuals. The outcome of interest, walkability index, was derived from three variables: population density, connectivity and land-use. The distribution of census sections in terms of walkability was analyzed for the quintiles of the two sociodemographic predictors. Census sections with the highest level of education presented the lowest levels of walkability (walkability in Q1=-1.53); whereas Q4 and Q5 of low-educational level were the ones with the highest walkability (walkability in Q4=0.78, Q5=0.53). We also found a clear relation between areas with high % of foreign-born residents and higher walkability (walkability in Q1=-1.43, Q2=-0.98, Q3=-0.11, Q4=0.6, Q5=1.91). Using Q1 as the reference group, all differences were statistically significant (p<0.05). The three components of the walkability index showed similar results independently. In conclusion, census sections with higher levels of education and census sections with less foreign-born people were less walkable. Disentangling the mechanisms behind these results may help urban planners design better and more walkable environments that would help increasing population’s physical activity.