Associations between neighbourhood street connectivity and sedentary behaviours in Canadian adults: Findings from Alberta’s Tomorrow Project

Abstract

Evidence suggests that neighbourhood street connectivity is positively associated with physical activity, yet few studies have estimated its associations with sedentary behaviour. We estimated the associations between space syntax derived street integration, a novel measure of street connectivity, and sedentary behaviours among Canadian adults. Data were sourced from a population-based study–Alberta’s Tomorrow Project (n = 14,758). Items from the International Physical Activity Questionnaire captured sedentary behaviour, including sitting and motor vehicle travel time and walking. Street integration was measured within a 1600m radius of participants’ homes. Covariate-adjusted linear regression models estimated the associations between street integration and sedentary behaviour. Street integration was significantly positively associated with daily minutes of sitting on week (b 6.44; 95CI 3.60, 9.29) and weekend (b 4.39; 95CI 1.81, 6.96) days, and for week and weekend days combined (b 5.86; 95CI 3.30, 8.41) and negatively associated with daily minutes of motor vehicle travel (b -3.72; 95CI -3.86, -1.55). These associations remained significant after further adjustment for daily walking participation and duration. More research is needed to understand the pathways by which street integration positively and or negatively affects sedentary behaviour.