Exploring walking behaviour and perceived walkability of older adults in London

Introduction: There is an emerging imperative to design walkable communities catering to older adults, particularly given the context of an increasingly aging population. However, studies of how older citizens perceive walkability remain scarce. Therefore, this study aims to identify the factors that influence walking behaviours and perceived walkability among senior citizens, whilst also illuminating the associations between them. Methods: A quantitative analysis was conducted on 200 older individuals living in Ealing, London, an area with a large proportion of senior citizens. Utilising the self-developed Neighbourhood Environment Walkability Scale for Older Adults (NEWS-OA), based on the abbreviated version of NEWS, both linear and logistic regression models were employed to decode the data. Results: Our results show that NEWS-OA is appropriate for assessing perceived walkability among senior citizens and reveal concerns regarding traffic safety. Communities with high walkability are likely to encourage an extended distance, duration, and frequency of walks. However, socioeconomic status (SES) was found to have a less pronounced effect on walking frequency and distance. The study further demonstrates that perceptions of safety were lower among older adults with a high SES. We found that positive perceptions of all the variables tested, except Aesthetics, encouraged walking. Furthermore, the study reveals the crucial influence of these perceptions on older adults' inclination to walk for various purposes, such as the role of perceived safety in terms of social interaction. Conclusions: This study offers insights that can be used to make London a more age-friendly and walkable city. It can also serve as a reference for other cities to enhance inclusiveness.