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Abstract
Physical activity (PA) is important in ensuring a healthy population. It is dependent on various socio-demographic (SD) factors, such as age, gender, employment and marital status. A limited number of studies have investigated the relationship between SD factors and PA but research exploring this relationship from the perspective of gated and non-gated neighbourhoods is scarcer. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between SD factors and PA variables in gated and nongated neighbourhoods in Karachi Pakistan. Results of the independent sample t-test and Pearson chi-square showed that young and single people do more sports activities in gated neighbourhoods. Women, unemployed people and public transport users walk more in non-gated neighbourhoods. In conclusion, future neighbourhoods should have more pedestrian friendly areas and a larger number of PA facilities, rather than building more walls and gates.
Acknowledgements
The first author acknowledges the National University of Science and Technology (NUST), Pakistan for funding her PhD studies as well as the department of urban engineering of NED university of Engineering and Technology, Karachi for their support in data collection; and all the authors acknowledge University Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) for providing the necessary environment and facilities that made this research possible.
Notes
1. (Metabolic Equivalent of Task) is a physiological measure expressing the energy cost (or calories) of physical activities. MET values indicate the intensity of any activity such as an activity with a MET value of 5 means expending 5 times the energy (number of calories) than at rest. MET minutes are the time engaged in an activity with consideration to the number of METs (World Health Organization Citation2010)