Hugh Millward

Weather impacts on leisure activities in Halifax, Nova Scotia

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of daily atmospheric weather conditions on daily leisure activity engagement, with a focus on physically active leisure. The methods capitalize on time diary data that were collected in Halifax, Nova Scotia to calculate objective measures of leisure activity engagement. Daily meteorological data from Environment Canada and daily sunrise and sunset times from the National Research Council of Canada are used to develop objective measures of the natural atmospheric environment. The time diary data were merged with the meteorological data in order to quantify the statistical association between daily weather conditions and the type, participation rate, frequency, and duration of leisure activity engagement. The results indicate that inclement and uncomfortable weather conditions, especially relating to thermal comfort and mechanical comfort, pose barriers to physically active leisure engagement, while promoting sedentary and home-based leisure activities. Overall, daily weather conditions exhibit modest, but significant, effects on leisure activity engagement; the strongest associations being for outdoor active sports and outdoor active leisure time budgets. In conclusion, weather conditions influence the type, participation rate, frequency, and duration of leisure activity engagement, which is an important consideration for health-promotion programming.

Public access in the West European countryside: a comparative survey

Abstract This comparative study employs the concept of physical rigour to map and measure recreational routes and zones available to the public. The comparison is made for 15 representative countryside districts in four national settings (Great Britain, West Germany, France, and Benelux). Three of the districts are national parks, while the others are 40 × 25 km settled areas chosen to typify the physical and human landscape of their region. Statistical measures of access availability are computed for five levels of access rigour, grading from passive through to arduous. Road or ‘passive’ access is most prevalent in settled districts of West Germany and France, while footpaths providing casual access are most plentiful in West Germany and Benelux. Off-route lands open to the public are most common in sparsely settled upland areas. Polynomial regressions show that both amplitude of relief and type of land cover influence the availability of access types. However, land-use intensity is the strongest determinant of the access regime in all except mountainous areas. Although not investigated statistically, regional and national variations in access availability may be related to the history of land apportionment and to legal/customary constraints on public access. These help to explain exceptionally low degrees of access in Great Britain.

Public recreational access in the countryside: concepts and measures of physical rigour.

Abstract Public recreational movement within the countryside is conceptualized in terms of physical and legal barriers, and by specifying five levels of access rigour. The conceptual scheme is designed to have applicability in a broad spectrum of environmental and cultural settings, but is presented with reference to Europe and North America. Specific measures of access availability are then developed, related to recreationists within the five rigour groups. The measures are intended to allow rapid evaluation of extensive study areas, and therefore employ evidence from topographic maps. In general, passive or car-restricted access is available only within 100 m of all-weather roads, and casual access is provided by tracks and footpaths within 3 km of roadheads. Vigorous access occurs on paths beyond this 3 km point, while rugged access occurs along waterways or off the beaten track. Beyond 3 km from footpaths or waterways, or in very ill-favoured terrain, access is considered to be arduous. The applicability and potential use of the access measures is demonstrated using four Canadian study areas, including a national park. Access availability for these areas is compared using both ‘access profiles’ and access maps. The paper concludes with a discussion of the schemes value for inventory, for assessment of the adequacy and equity of access, and for international and regional comparison.

Patterning in Urban Population Densities: A Spatiotemporal Model Compared with Toronto 1971–2001

We build on the literature on population-density distributions, but translate the consensus cross-sectional progression into a three-dimensional and six-stage geographic information system (GIS) based ‘volcano’ model. Visual comparison and descriptive statistics show Torontos recent density patterns to be very similar to those suggested by the model: the central density cluster has reversed its decline, while peripheral clusters have developed at increasing distances from downtown. Local autocorrelation (LISA) allowed areas of significant clustering and diversity to be mapped, and strong conformity was found between the model and Torontos empirical patterns. Overall, density levels throughout the metropolitan area are homogenizing and randomizing, even while inner-city redensification and peripheral densification proceed.

Investigating Travel Thresholds for Sports and Recreation Activities

Central to the practice of urban planning is the provision of services, which has potential public health and social welfare implications. However, service area analysis, typically, employs arbitrary travel-distance thresholds. Through this study we provide an empirical investigation into the durations and distances that respondents are willing to travel in order to engage in various sports and recreation activities. This research uses time-diary data, augmented with global positioning system information, to investigate individually based and objectively measured travel thresholds (which define travelsheds) for various sports and recreation activities in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Results accord with national time-diary data, and indicate that duration-based and distance-based travelsheds are generally in the order of 15–30 minutes and 4–20 km, respectively. Georeferenced time-diary data provide unique insights into travel thresholds, which may be used to help improve accessibility and thereby increase the frequency and duration of physical activity engagement.

Durations and domains of daily aerobic activity: evidence from the 2010 Canadian time-use survey.

BACKGROUND This study employs national time-diary data to evaluate how much aerobic activity Canadians engage in on a daily basis, how that activity is apportioned by activity domain, and how subgroups within the population vary in their aerobic attainment. METHODS The study employs time-use data from the 2010 General Social Survey of Canada, for 15,390 respondents aged 15 and older. To estimate effort levels, the authors harmonized survey codes with those in the Compendium of Physical Activities. Aerobic activity was defined as moderate or vigorous effort at 3.5 Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET) or higher. RESULTS Among the 4 activity domains, aerobic participation is highest in leisure activities, followed by chores, paid work, and active transportation (AT). Only a minority (42%) of respondents recorded at least 20 mins/day of aerobic activity. Aerobic totals were particularly low for women and those in poor or fair health, and low for students, 15- to 24-year-olds, and those residing in Quebec, Ontario, and larger cities. CONCLUSIONS The majority of Canadian adults are failing to meet recommended aerobic activity levels. However, there is considerable opportunity to increase aerobic participation for some groups, particularly women and young adults, especially in the leisure and AT domains.

Active Living Among Older Canadians: A Time-Use Perspective Over 3 Decades

This research uses four nationally representative samples of time diary data, spanning almost 30 yr, that are fused with energy expenditure information to enumerate the median daily duration of moderate or vigorous effort activity, quantify the prevalence of Canadians age 65 yr and older who are meeting recommended daily levels of physical activity, and explore the factors affecting rates of active living. Results indicate that 41.1% of older Canadians met recommended levels of physical activity in 1992, 40.6% in 1998, 43.5% in 2005, and 39.6% in 2010. Both rates of active living and daily duration of aerobic activity exhibit significant differences among sociodemographic groups, with age, sex, activity limitation, urban-rural, and season exhibiting the most significant influences. This study illustrates the potential for time diary data to provide detailed surveillance of physical activity patterns, active aging research, and program development, as well.

Learning Daily Activity Sequences of Population Groups using Random Forest Theory

The choice of daily activity sequences differs between individuals based on their socio-demographic characteristics and their health and/or mobility status. The aim of this paper is to provide an improved methodology for learning and modeling the daily activity engagement patterns of individuals using a state-of-the-art machine learning algorithm. The dependencies between activity type, activity frequency, activity sequence, and socio-demographic characteristics of individuals are taken into account by employing a random forest model. In order to capture the heterogeneity and diversity among the predictor variables, we employed two different methods for split selection in the random forest algorithm: Classification and Regression Tree (CART) and curvature search. These two methods were examined under two different layer settings. In the first setting, the algorithm grows trees using all alternative predictor variables, whereas in the second setting the importance of the predictor variables is estimated and then the algorithm grows trees using only high-score predictor variables. The models were applied to time use data from the large Halifax Space-Time Activity Research (STAR) household travel diary survey. We evaluated the estimation accuracy of the proposed models using confusion matrix, transition matrix, and sequential alignment techniques. Results show that the random forest model with CART split selection using the first layer setting has the best accuracy in replicating activity agendas and activity sequences of individuals. The results of this paper are expected to be implemented within the activity-based travel demand model, Scheduler for Activities, Locations, and Travel (SALT).

Aggregation and spatial analysis of walking activity in an urban area: results from the Halifax space-time activity survey

This study examines neighborhood characteristics affecting the incidence of walking trips in urban and suburban areas of Halifax, Canada. We employ data from the Space-Time Activity Research (STAR) survey, conducted in 2007-8. Primary respondents completed a two- day time-diary survey, and their movements were tracked using a GPS data logger. Primary respondents logged a total of 5,005 walking trips, specified by 781,205 individual GPS points. Redundant and erroneous points, such as those with zero or excessive speed, were removed. Data points were then imported into ArcGIS, converted from points to linear features, visually inspected for data quality, and cleaned appropriately. From mapped walking tracks we developed hypotheses regarding variations in walking density. To test these, walking distances were aggregated by census tracts (CTs), and expressed as walking densities (per resident, per metre of road, and per developed area). We employed multivariate regression to examine which neighborhood (CT) variables are most useful as estimators of walking densities. Contrary to much of the planning literature, built-environment measures of road connectivity and dwelling density were found to have little estimating power. Office and institutional land uses are more useful estimators, as are the income and age characteristics of the resident population.

Regional variations in the development and restructuring of farming in Hokkaido, Japan

Abstract Hokkaidos agricultural districts are currently being restructured by contrasting processes of marginalisation, industrialisation, and off‐farm diversification. The south and west were settled early for subsistence farming, and their undersized farms are undergoing diversification through off‐farm employment, particularly near major cities. Areas settled later in the north and east have much larger farms, which are engaged in a process of agricultural industrialisation. Marginalisation has occurred in only a few areas to date, but may become much more widespread.