Mobility, Environment, and Well-Being: Interactions between Place and Walking in Three Cities in the Developing World

Andrew Mondschein (University of Virginia)

In developing world cities, the same path may represent walkable access to opportunities, a march through toxic air, or both, depending on individual and community context. While evidence suggests significant health benefits of walking, facets of cities that increase walking rates may also exact a toll on walkers in terms of exposures and well-being. We comparatively present two studies that examine the relationships between environment, mobility, and human wellbeing, seeking a better understanding of individual impacts. The first study looks at Delhi, India, and investigates how daily travel and environmental hazards such as air emissions, water quality, and noise, intersect to shape individual wellbeing across the region’s neighborhoods. We use a purpose-built survey and mapping tool to collect and analyze how travel behavior and perceptions of the built environment are associated with psychological factors including subjective wellbeing, connectedness to nature, and sense of curiosity. We find that daily travel, in particular walking, has a significant effect on wellbeing, but those effects vary significantly depending on the type of environment people live in. The second study focuses on wellbeing of populations within Nakuru, Kenya and Udon Thani, Thailand, both of which are rapidly urbanizing cities. Using these increasingly urbanized cities as test beds affords an opportunity to understand and, crucially, plan for future urbanization. We look to understand wellbeing through questionnaires assessing relationship with nature, stress and wellbeing as well as undertaking short transect walks to understand changes in heart rate variability within changing urban forms. These projects are among the first to explicitly account for the effect of the built and natural environment when considering the relationship between walking and wellbeing. They highlight the importance of treating walking and walkability enhancements as part of a comprehensive set of neighborhood environmental best practices, and not a standalone intervention for improving wellbeing.