Walkable cities lift daily activity

A large smartphone based study links higher city walkability to increased daily steps, suggesting urban design can boost public health.

Walkable cities lift daily activity

Researchers conducted a countrywide, longitudinal study of US residents using anonymized data from 2,112,288 smartphone users who tracked activity via the Azumio Argus app between 2013 and 2016. They identified 7,447 relocations across 1,609 cities and linked changes in walkability, measured by Walk Score, to changes in daily steps. The analysis used within‑person comparisons to control for personal factors and found that moving from a less walkable to a more walkable city increased daily steps by about 1,100 on average, with the boost concentrated in moderate‑to‑vigorous activity and sustained over roughly three months. The authors also addressed potential confounding from residential self-selection, arguing that activity increases did not occur when moving to cities with similar walkability, and that climate seasonality was accounted for.

The study notes limitations, including the nonrandom nature of relocation and the use of a single smartphone based activity measure. Yet it argues that the large sample and robust methods strengthen the case that the built environment directly shapes health enhancing activity. The authors suggest public policy implications, inviting planners to view walkability improvements as a lever for population health.

This study offers a rare large test of how the built environment shapes daily behavior. By tracking the same person across two environments, it strengthens causal inference and avoids some common biases. Yet it relies on a single measure of activity from a phone and a proxy for walkability that may miss factors like safety and shade. The authors acknowledge relocation is not purely random and discuss selection effects, climate, and seasonality, which matters for how we interpret the results.

Policy makers should see these findings as a prompt to invest in walkable streets and neighborhoods. But the work also raises questions about equity: will improvements reach low income or high crime areas where pedestrians need them most? The overarching message is clear — design plays a direct role in health, not just in transport.

Highlights

Design decisions in cities can improve health for millions.