Impact of the Built Environment on Leisure Running: A comparative study of weekdays and weekends in Kumamoto City, Japan

Abstract

Numerous studies have demonstrated the positive effects of leisure running and jogging on health. However, it is unclear how the built environment affects leisure running on weekdays and weekends in Japan. This study analyzed data from Strava Metro concerning 2022 leisure running trips on weekdays and weekends. It considered 5D built environment characteristics, including density, design, diversity, and destination accessibility, obtained from 100m road buffers. The results were explored based on ordinary least squares regression and spatial lag models, which showed that (1) leisure running on weekdays was concentrated between 6 and 7 am and 6 and 8 pm, while running activity on weekends was concentrated between 6 and 10 am. (2) There were spatial differences between weekday and weekend leisure running. Large parks were the primary places for recreational running. On both weekdays and weekends, the impact of large-scale parks was excellent. (3) In addition, population density and small-scale parks significantly affected leisure running on weekdays. Road density and distance to rivers significantly affected weekend leisure running. This study revealed the relationship between leisure running and the built environment in Japan.