There's a great new paper out about the effects of urban green space on physical activity in England, with a special emphasis on how different income groups are affected. Let's take a look. (1/10)

The paper begins with a really grim statistic: every year, some 1.5 million deaths can be attributed to lack of physical activity! The paper also highlights previous research showing that the built environment is an important determinant of physical activity.

The study is based on surveys of about 18,000 respondents, of which about 10% also took part in a follow-up study where they wore a pedometer. The sample was limited to urban residents, since rural folks have consistently excellent access to green space.

On to the results. For starters, ~35% of the sample reported no deliberate exercise in the previous month, and ~45% reported no significant amount of walking in the previous four weeks. Overall, only about half of respondents met recommended minimum physical activity guidelines.

Curiously, while proximity to urban green space does not seem to affect physical activity that much, living near urban blue space (rivers, lakes, coastline) does have a positive effect. Living near a pretty body of water seems to encourage walking, at the very minimum!

But things start to get interesting when the results are stratified by income. Access to both green and blue space significantly increased physical activity for the poorest residences, an important finding since the poor are generally the least likely to meet exercise targets.

In fact, the income effect of living near a coastline was so strong that it may explain why coastal areas in England have remarkably lower health inequities compared to the rest of the country.

There is one important caveat: the pedometer data did not yield the same significant results, possibly due to a smaller sample size.

Overall, the really big takeaway here is that green space and especially blue space is absolutely critical to reducing health inequality between the rich and poor. The poorest quintile (far left) sees the greatest benefit from living near coastlines, rivers, and lakes.

The rich already generally get enough exercise thanks to the benefits their wealth can buy them. But if we want to help everyone stay healthy, including the poor, then well-maintained and accessible greenery and coastline is absolutely critical.