Astrid Kemperman

Heterogeneity in Urban Park Use of Aging Visitors: A Latent Class Analysis

This study describes and predicts urban parks use patterns for various age groups, with specific attention to the growing group of older adults. Park use intensity of various age groups is described. Subsequently, a multinomial logit model is estimated to describe urban park choice as a function of park features, activities, and socio-demographics. To identify segments in park use patterns of aging visitors a latent class model is estimated. Data are collected from a sample of 1,107 residents of the Eindhoven region in The Netherlands in 2002. The results indicate that age significantly affects park choice behavior. Specifically, four segments of older visitors were identified that clearly differed in their park use patterns: active health oriented users, active socially oriented users, passive local users, and moderate users.

Influence of Socio-Demographics and Residential Environment on Leisure Activity Participation

Participating in leisure activities provides important benefits for all people. However, there is a substantial reduction of (green) leisure opportunities in cities, and the green spaces that are available often are poorly accessible. The purpose of this study is to analyze the diversity of participation in various types of leisure activities and to determine the relationship between leisure activity participation and characteristics of the residential environment depending on socio-demographic characteristics. Diary data from 803 respondents living in the Eindhoven region in the Netherlands were used. Four segments were identified that differ regarding their leisure activity participation, and a modest impact of green space accessibility was found.

Locations that support social activity participation of the aging population

Social activities are an important aspect of health and quality of life of the aging population. They are key elements in the prevention of loneliness. In order to create living environments that stimulate older adults to engage in social activities, more insight is needed in the social activity patterns of the aging population. This study therefore analyzes the heterogeneity in older adults’ preferences for different social activity location types and the relationship between these preferences and personal and mobility characteristics. This is done using a latent class multinomial logit model based on two-day diary data collected in 2014 in Noord-Limburg in the Netherlands among 213 respondents aged 65 or over. The results show that three latent classes can be identified among the respondents who recorded social activities in the diary: a group that mainly socializes at home, a group that mainly socializes at a community center and a group that is more likely to socialize at public ‘third’ places. The respondents who did not record any interactions during the two days, are considered as a separate segment. Relationships between segment membership and personal and mobility characteristics were tested using cross-tabulations with chi-square tests and analyses of variance. The results suggest that both personal and mobility characteristics play an important role in social activity patterns of older adults.

Mixed multinomial logit model for out-of-home leisure activity choice.

The design and the results of a study of the factors that influence the choice of out-of-home leisure activities are presented. Influencing factors appear to be related to sociodemographic characteristics, personal preferences, characteristics of the built environment, and other aspects of the activities themselves, such as transport mode and day of the week. The Dutch continuous time–use research data on leisure activities for 2008 to 2009 were used for estimating a mixed multinomial logit model that accounts for heterogeneity in individuals’ preferences. The model formulation also allows analysis of substitution and complementarity between the types of activities. Results indicate differences in behavior between people with different sociodemographic characteristics, especially regarding the life-cycle stage, which is a variable composed by age and household composition. The built environment exerts a slight influence on the choice of leisure activity purpose, whereas travel party has a strong influence. For substitution and complementary relationships between activity purposes, although outdoor leisure decreases the propensity to perform sports or hobbies–courses activities, such leisure increases the propensity to perform fun shopping and going-out or cultural activities. Limitations of the study are discussed.

Children's Recreational Physical Activity

This study explored childrens participation in recreational (physical) activities and the extent to which this participation was influenced by individual and household socio-demographics and characteristics of the social and physical environment. Travel and activity diaries were used to collect data on out-of-home recreational activities for a random sample of 4,293 children in primary schools in the Netherlands. These data were investigated in relation to measures describing the social and physical living environment. Specifically, a Bayesian belief network was proposed because it derives and represents simultaneously all direct and indirect relationships between the selected variables. Results indicated that participation in various types of recreational activities was directly related to the socio-economic status of the household, the perceived safety of the neighborhood, the size of agricultural area in the neighborhood, travel distance, and day of the week. Planners and designers are recommended to find a good land use mix, and specifically make sure that they focus their attention on safety issues, as these factors stimulate childrens participation in recreational physical activities.

To use or not to use: which type of property should you choose?

Purpose - – Corporate real estate (CRE) is a costly and risky asset in need of more rigorous evaluation methods to support strategic decision making for portfolio and asset management. Especially the indirect added value on organizational revenues is hard to quantify, while it is gaining importance. The purpose of this paper is to describe a quantitative technique that predicts office use as input for CRE management (CREM) decisions. Design/methodology/approach - – After a literature study to identify relevant aspects influencing office use in modern work environments, a Bayesian belief network (BN) is constructed from a large database of 80,907 observations of office use in three organizations in Belgium and the Netherlands. Next specific evidence from future scenarios of organizational change is entered to discuss the application of BN for CRE decision-making processes. Findings - – This study showed that the use of activity-based offices might be influenced by a complex network of office design variables and user characteristics. The use of the predicting possibilities of a BN model can help CRE managers identify employee behaviour inside their offices. That information is valuable input for future workplace decisions and strategic CREM activities. Practical implications - – This study provides CRE managers with a model to gain knowledge on office use to get a better grip on how to add value with activity-based office concepts. The results obtained through using such a model can help support decision making on their office layouts. Originality/value - – Bayesian BNs have not been used in this area of research before. This paper provides both academics and practitioners with valuable insights in the possibilities of this methodology for the field.

Estimating a latent-class user model for travel recommender systems

In determining the selection of sites to visit on a trip tourists have to trade-off attraction values against routing and time-use characteristics of points of interest (POIs). For recommending optimal personalized travel plans an accurate assessment of how users make these trade-offs is important. In this paper we report the results of a study conducted to estimate a user model for travel recommender systems. The proposed model is part of c-Space—a tour-recommender system for tourists on a city trip which uses the LATUS algorithm to find personalized optimal tours. The model takes into account a multi-attribute utility function of POIs as well as dynamic needs of persons on a trip. A stated choice experiment is designed where the current need is manipulated as a context variable and activity choice alternatives are varied. A random sample of 316 individuals participated in the on-line survey. A latent-class analysis shows that significant differences exist between tourists in terms of how they make the trade-offs between the factors and respond to needs. The estimation results provide the parameters of a multi-class user model that can be used for travel recommender systems.

Attracting and retaining millennials: the contribution of Corporate Real Estate

Organisations value their employees as one of their key assets and continuously seek for the best potential talent among the declining workforce. In order to attract and retain talented millennials, the office environment also has to support the needs of this generation. The aim of this study was therefore to provide Corporate Real Estate Managers (CREM) with insight in how to support millennials in order to attract and retain them. It identified which physical workplace aspects can support the 3 most important workplace needs of millennials: sociability with colleagues, opportunity to grow and work-life balance. Hypotheses were developed on differences between generations on these needs and the possible support of relevant physical workplace aspects.Data was collected through a survey of 302 Dutch office employees belonging to the baby boomers, generation X or millennials generation. The hypotheses were tested with Pearson correlation coefficients and ANOVA. Results showed that millennials attach more value to the need for coaching and professional growth than generation x, and less value to the balance between leisure and work. Regarding physical workplace aspects, in total thirteen unique physical workplace aspects have the potential to support the three workplace needs of millennials. They find accessibility of colleagues and informal work areas/break-out zones more important in support of their sociability with colleagues than generation X. For supporting the same need, baby boomers find IT-services for social networking more important than millennials. Regarding the opportunity to grow, baby boomers perceive audio-visual equipment to be more important than millennials. In order to support their need for work-life balance, millennials find the ability to personalise their workstation more important than others. Future studies should further clarify support of needs of different generations and how CREM can create an office environment that accommodates and supports all.

Home office – Show me your Workplace!

New ways of working means flexible working. One of the main conflicts with flexible working is the difficulty, not to get totally absorbed by worklife. The capacity to regenerate is essential. One main place for regeneration is the home. In the home office the conflict of privacy and worklife becomes physical: The worksphere invades the homesphere- and vice versa. The Canadian Psychologist Ng (Ng 2010) states in a review on homeoffice workplaces, that there is no actual research focused on the relationship between spatial and environmental aspects of home offices and work behaviour. Little is known, on how home workplaces look like. Sherry Ahrendzen (Ahrendzen 1989) asked 30 years ago, what types of spatial arrangements are best suited for homeworkers. It makes sense to ask this question again under the light of todays political, cultural and social background and considering todays technical possibilities.There are two essential Questions: How looks the workplace in the home office today? What are the best spatial and environmental arrangements when working at home?Method: This home office study is embedded in a larger research project on the influence of environmental parameters on office workers. The overarching research project gives a superstructure for the home office study. A broad research of laws, standards and literature defines environmental variables and resulted in a database with key criteria and priorities for health, wellbeing and comfort (Hax, Redlein 2016).‘What makes an effective workplace in conventional office setting may apply to home offices as well’ (Ng 2010). The database gives a structure to environmental variables in the home office.To get a close look inside the home office, homeworkers in Vienna and in the suburban areas of lower Austria are interviewed in their homes. The workplaces are documented by foto.Results: This is an ongoing research, starting in January 2017. The planned result is, to construct typologies of home office workplaces, in order to get a better understanding of the relationship between environmental settings and homeworkers work outcomes. First results will be ready on the conference in June 2017.Ahrentzen S. (1989): A place of peace, prospect, and…a PC: The home as office. In: Journal of architectural and planning research 6(4):271-288, December 1989Hax-Noske C., Redlein A. (2016 ): Parameters for Comfort: Comparative study of laws and standards. In: Research Papers for EuroFM´s 15th Research Sy