Marianela Castillo Riquelme, Steven Melly, Goro Yamada, Paulina Pino, Ricardo Hurtubia, Olga Lucia Sarmiento, Pablo Ruiz Rudolph, Alex Quitsberg and Ana Diez Roux
Abstract
This study aims to conceptualize, measure and describe the urban infrastructure (UI) that favor leisure-time physical activity and active transportation (i.e. walking or cycling to destinations); with application to the 34 urban comunas (municipalities) and 1623 neighborhoods of the metropolitan region of Santiago, Chile.[¤]METHOD[|]UI was conceptualized in four dimensions: active travel, green areas, safety, and public transport. We selected/built 23 indicators (5-6 by dimension) using data from several sources (e.g. SALURBAL Project and various national sources). A summary index (mean value of the variables’ z-scores) was obtained by dimension. Geographic information systems (GIS) were used to analyze the indices spatially at neighborhood and comuna-levels. We explored inequalities using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), Gini coefficient, p90/10, and clusters and outliers’ analyses.[¤]RESULTS[|]UI that fosters physical activity was unequally distributed with spatial patterns that differed by dimension and level. Within Santiago the best conditions for active travel appear to be in the center and north; most green areas and safety conditions were situated in the northeast and towards the periphery, and public transport was better in the center. Higher income comunas (e.g. Providencia, Las Condes and Vitacura) had more neighborhoods classified in high-high clusters, while lower income comunas (e.g. El Bosque, Pedro Aguirre Cerda, and Quinta Normal) had more neighborhoods classified in low-low clusters. Green areas were the most unequally distributed dimension (Gini comuna=0.29, neighborhood=0.26; p90/10 comuna=4.9, neighborhood=3.6), followed by active travel (Gini comuna=0.27, neighborhood=0.16; p90/10 comuna=4.8, neighborhood=2.1). Intraclass variability between neighborhoods of the same comuna was very high, ranging from 0.58 for public transport to 0.77 for green areas.[¤]CONCLUSIONS[|]Inequalities in UI negatively affect several comunas and neighborhoods, potentially hindering people’s opportunities to engage in physical activity. The higher ICC highlights the limitations of using comuna’s averages to set priorities for urban renovations/improvements.
