Can the built environment influence nonwork activity participation? An analysis with national data

Most of the research on the influence of the built environment on travel has focused on reducing the impacts of travel, but one of the primary benefits of travel is the opportunity to engage in activities. This study examines a national travel data set to see if variation in the built environment can facilitate participation in out-of-the-home, nonwork activities for households. Although several studies have examined the relationship between the built environment and nonwork trip generation in the past, none have looked at such a wide range of built environments as a national data set can provide. Built environment variables are associated with higher than expected impacts on household participation in nonwork activities, increasing or decreasing activity levels in the range of 8–47 %, depending largely upon the level of household vehicle ownership. For households without vehicles, high residential and employment densities appear to support greater nonwork activity. Households with full access to vehicles appear to be supported by higher than average residential and employment densities and mid-range urban and metropolitan area sizes. Interestingly, activity participation in households with limited vehicle access is for the most part not affected by the built environment in a statistically significant way. In sum, these results suggest that the built environment may play a larger role in facilitating activity participation than previously presumed. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015