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This study examines the complex interplay between social and spatial structures among older adults, emphasizing the interest in considering the social composition of activity spaces and the spatial characteristics of social networks. There is a growing interest in the collection and analysis of both social and daily mobility spatial information to better understand people-place interactions and determinants of health. Yet, few analyses have explored how the social and spatial dimensions of people's lives relate. In this exploratory study, we analyze how social and spatial indicators collected with the VERITAS-Social questionnaire among 98 older adults in Montréal, Canada, relate, using confirmatory principal component analysis. The aim of the article is to provide empirical evidence on the reduction of dimensions of measures related to social networks, activity spaces, and combined socio-spatial structures., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

The 20-min neighbourhood (20MN) concept aims to enable residents to meet daily needs using resources within a 20-min trip from home noting that there is no single definition of what services and amenities are required for daily needs nor what modes of transport constitute a 20 min trip. Whether 20MNs promote better health and whether associations differ by socio-economic status (SES) is unknown. Using cross-sectional data from adults randomly sampled in 2018-19 from Melbourne or Adelaide, Australia, we examined whether associations between neighbourhood type (20MN/non-20MN) and diet, physical activity or self-rated health vary according to individual- or area-level SES. We found no consistent patterns of interactions. The results do not consistently support the often assumed belief that 20MNs support more healthful behaviour and that these relationships vary by SES., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare they have no conflicts of interests to disclose., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Interest is growing in neighborhood effects on health beyond individual's home locations. However, few studies accounted for selective daily mobility bias. Selective mobility of 470 older adults (aged 67-94) living in urban and suburban areas of Luxembourg, was measured through detour percentage between their observed GPS-based paths and their shortest paths. Multilevel negative binomial regression tested associations between detour percentage, trips characteristics and environmental exposures. Detour percentage was higher for walking trips (28%) than car trips (16%). Low-speed areas and connectivity differences between observed and shortest paths vary by transport mode, indicating a potential selective daily mobility bias. The positive effects of amenities, street connectivity, low-speed areas and greenness on walking detour reinforce the existing evidence on older adults' active transportation. Urban planning interventions favoring active transportation will also promote walking trips with longer detours, helping older adults to increase their physical activity levels and ultimately promote healthy aging., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Built environment interventions have the potential to improve population health and reduce health inequities. The objective of this paper is to present the first wave of the INTErventions, Research, and Action in Cities Team (INTERACT) cohort studies in Victoria, Vancouver, Saskatoon, and Montreal, Canada. We examine how our cohorts compared to Canadian census data and present summary data for our outcomes of interest (physical activity, well-being, and social connectedness). We also compare location data and activity spaces from survey data, research-grade GPS and accelerometer devices, and a smartphone app, and compile measures of proximity to select built environment interventions., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

The planet is rapidly urbanizing, the need for actionable evidence to guide the design of cities that help (not hinder) our health has never felt more urgent. One essential component of healthy city design is improving neighborhood conditions in previously disinvested areas. To ensure equitable city design, policy makers, city planners, health practitioners, and researchers are interested in understanding the complex relationship between urban change, gentrification, and population health. Yet, the causal link between gentrification and health outcomes remain unclear. Without clear and consistent gentrification measures, researchers struggle to identify populations who are exposed to gentrification, and to compare health outcomes between exposed and unexposed populations. To move the science forward, this paper summarizes the challenges related to gentrification measurement in the United States and Canada when aspiring to conduct studies to analyze causal relationships between gentrification and health. The paper concludes with a series of recommendations for studies aimed at examining both causes and consequences of gentrification and health., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest All authors were supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research under award number IP2–1507071C and PJT-165955. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Spatial lifecourse epidemiology is an interdisciplinary field that utilizes advanced spatial, location-based, and artificial intelligence technologies to investigate the long-term effects of environmental, behavioural, psychosocial, and biological factors on health-related states and events and the underlying mechanisms. With the growing number of studies reporting findings from this field and the critical need for public health and policy decisions to be based on the strongest science possible, transparency and clarity in reporting in spatial lifecourse epidemiologic studies is essential. A task force supported by the International Initiative on Spatial Lifecourse Epidemiology (ISLE) identified a need for guidance in this area and developed a Spatial Lifecourse Epidemiology Reporting Standards (ISLE-ReSt) Statement. The aim is to provide a checklist of recommendations to improve and make more consistent reporting of spatial lifecourse epidemiologic studies. The STrengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) Statement for cohort studies was identified as an appropriate starting point to provide initial items to consider for inclusion. Reporting standards for spatial data and methods were then integrated to form a single comprehensive checklist of reporting recommendations. The strength of our approach has been our international and multidisciplinary team of content experts and contributors who represent a wide range of relevant scientific conventions, and our adherence to international norms for the development of reporting guidelines. As spatial, location-based, and artificial intelligence technologies used in spatial lifecourse epidemiology continue to evolve at a rapid pace, it will be necessary to revisit and adapt the ISLE-ReSt at least every 2-3 years from its release., (Copyright © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Activity space research provides a framework to consider mobility while linking environments to behaviors in the study of neighborhood effects on health. Increased use of wearable location sensors provides new opportunities to observe and analyze fine-grained spatial and temporal information on individuals' mobility patterns, environmental exposures and behaviors; however, these analysis does not easily translate into causal inference. Additional dimensions underlying behavioral decision-making likely influence or even modify environmental effects on behaviors. This commentary discusses how further progresses in exposure measurement, integration of data collection tools, and development of study designs could support future interventions to optimize how environments shape health profiles and inequities., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Good accessibility to both healthy and unhealthy food outlets is a greater reality than food deserts. Yet, there is a lack of conceptual insights on the contextual factors that push individuals to opt for healthy or unhealthy food outlets when both options are accessible. Our comprehension of foodscape influences on dietary behaviours would benefit from a better understanding of the decision-making process for food outlet choices. In this paper, we build on the fundamental position that outlet choices are conditioned by how much outlets' attributes accommodate individuals' constraints and preferences. We further argue that food outlets continuously experienced within individuals' daily-path help people re-evaluate food acquisition possibilities, push them to form intentions, and shape their preferences for the choices they will subsequently make. Doing so, we suggest differentiating access, defined as the potential for the foodscape to be used at the time when individuals decide to do so, from exposure, which acts as a constant catalyst for knowledge, intention, preferences and routine tendency. We conclude with implications for future research, and discuss consequences for public policy., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: GPS tracking is increasingly used to document daily mobility, allowing refined analysis of daily exposures and health behaviour. Validation of algorithms processing raw GPS data to identify activity locations and trips are lacking., Objective: Propose novel ways to evaluate GPS processing algorithms data while validating an existing kernel-based algorithm with real-life GPS tracks., Methods: Seven-day GPS tracking and GPS-prompted recall interviews were conducted among 234 adult participants of the RECORD GPS Study. Raw GPS data was transformed using a kernel-based algorithm. Two match and nine mismatch configurations are analysed. Algorithm detection of activity locations and trips were validated., Results: Some 95.8% of available GPS time was correctly classified as an activity location or a trip. The algorithm falsely identified a trip for 2.2% of the tracking time, and falsely identified an activity location 0.7% of time. Missed trips and missed activity locations counted for less than .4% of the time., Conclusion: The tested kernel-based algorithm provides histories of activity locations and trips that are highly concordant with GPS-prompted follow-up interviews., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Neighborhood effects on health have been widely investigated; yet the definition of neighborhoods is usually arbitrary. This study analyses how disparities in environmental exposure according to urbanicity vary when considering a home-centered network-buffer, the perceived residential neighborhood, or the activity space. Exposures to the density of destinations and proportion of green space were compared for three spatial definitions of exposure areas, overall and stratified by urbanicity of the residence. Environmental exposure levels and gradients by urbanicity were found to vary depending on the spatial definition of the exposure area., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This study assessed relationships between built environmental exposures measured within components of individual activity spaces (i.e., travel origins, destinations and paths in-between), and use of active transportation in a metropolitan setting. Individuals (n=37,165) were categorised as using active or sedentary transportation based on travel survey data. Generalised Estimating Equations analysis was used to test relationships with active transportation. Strength and significance of relationships between exposures and active transportation varied for different components of the activity space. Associations were strongest when including travel paths in expression of the built environment. Land use mix and greenness were negatively related to active transportation., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The neighbourhood environment could play a role in the risk of depression in adults and those with a chronic illness. We investigated the effects of a range of neighbourhood characteristics on the 10-year risk of depression in a representative sample of 9026 Canadian adults and subsamples with a chronic condition. Characteristics of neighbourhoods were not significantly related to the risk of depression in the general sample and subsamples with a chronic condition. However, residing near a park was significantly associated with a lower risk of depression for people living in crowded households, and having a local health service nearby was protective for those living in materially deprived neighbourhoods. Living in a neighbourhood that was both socially advantaged and offered cultural services was also associated with lower risk of depression. Additional research is needed for smaller effect size detection. Future intervention research is warranted for health policy recommendations., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Despite growing interest in integrating people׳s daily mobility into contextual studies of social inequalities in health, the links between daily mobility and health inequalities remain inadequately conceptualised. This conceptual proposal anchors the relationship between daily mobility and contextual influences on social inequalities in health into the concept of mobility potential, which encompasses the opportunities and places individuals can choose (or are constrained) to access. Mobility potential is realized as actual mobility through agency. Being shaped by socially-patterned personal and geographic characteristics, mobility potential is unequally distributed across social groups. Social inequalities in realized mobility may thus result. We discuss pathways by which these may contribute to contextual influences on social inequalities in health. One pathway is reflected in disadvantaged groups encountering more fast-food outlets during their daily activities, which may relate to their higher risk of unhealthy eating. This proposal lays the bases for empirical research explicitly testing hypotheses regarding the contribution of daily mobility to social inequalities in health., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

A considerable body of literature has investigated how environmental exposures affect health through various pathways. These studies have generally adopted a common approach to define environmental exposures, focusing on the local residential environment, using census tracts or postcodes to delimit exposures. However, use of such administrative units may not be appropriate to evaluate contextual effets on health because they are generally not a 'true' representation of the environments to which individuals are exposed. Recent work has suggested that advances may be made if an activity-space approach is adopted. The present paper investigates how various disciplines may contribute to the refinement of the concept of activity space for use in health research. In particular we draw on seminal work in time geography, which provides a framework to describe individual behavior in space and time, and can help the conceptualization of activity space. In addition we review work in environmental psychology and social networks research, which provides insights on how people and places interact and offers new theories for improving the spatial definition of contextual exposures., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Recent studies have relied on GPS tracking to assess exposure to environmental characteristics over daily life schedules. Combining GPS and GIS allows for advances in environmental exposure assessment. However, biases related to selective daily mobility preclude assessment of environmental effects, to the extent that these studies may represent a step backward in terms of assessment of causal effects. A solution may be to integrate the Public health / Nutrition approach and the Transportation approach to GPS studies, so as to combine a GPS and accelerometer data collection with an electronic mobility survey. Correcting exposure measures and improving study designs with this approach may permit mitigating biases related to selective daily mobility., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Research on social capital and health has assumed that measures of trust, participation, and perceived cohesion capture aspects of people's neighborhood social connections. This study uses data on the personal networks of 2707 Montreal adults in 300 different neighborhoods to examine the association of socio-demographic and social capital variables with the likelihood of having core ties, core neighborhood ties, and high self-rated health (SRH). Persons with higher household income were more likely to have core ties, but less likely to have core neighborhood ties. Persons with greater diversity in extra-neighborhood network capital were more likely to have core ties, and persons with greater diversity in intra-neighborhood network capital were more likely to have core neighborhood ties. Generalized trust, perceived neighborhood cohesion, and extra-neighborhood network diversity were shown associated with high SRH. Conventional measures of social capital may not capture network mechanisms. Findings suggest a critical appraisal of the mechanisms linking social capital and health, and the further delineation of network and psychosocial mechanisms in understanding these links., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Researchers are increasingly interested in understanding how food environments influence eating behavior and weight-related health outcomes. Little is known about the dose-response relationship between foodscapes and behavior or weight, with measures of food exposure having mainly focused on fixed anchor points including residential neighborhoods, schools, or workplaces. Recent calls have been made to extend the consideration of environmental influences beyond local neighborhoods and also to shift away from place-based, to people-based, measures of exposure. This report presents analyses of novel activity-space measures of exposure to foodscapes, combining travel survey data with food store locations in Montreal and Quebec City, Canada. The resulting individual activity-space experienced foodscape exposure measures differ from traditional residential-based measures, and show variations by age and income levels. Furthermore, these activity-space exposure measures once modeled, can be used as predictors of health outcomes. Hence, travel surveys can be used to estimate environmental exposure for health survey participants., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Causal inference regarding the impact of place on health is constrained by limited attention to the biological plausibility of associations. The utility of such evidence also requires demonstrating that place-based exposures precede effects on health. We propose a conceptual framework that integrates time and two plausible biosocial pathways by which the geospatial clustering of social disadvantage might be viewed as causally related to the development of cardiovascular and glycemic disease. The framework distinguishes environmental risk conditions that condition the expression of individual behavioural and psychosocial characteristics, and socioeconomic and material conditions that influence regulatory systems through conscious and non-conscious mechanisms.