Research shows that only 20 per cent of full-time workers in Canada meet recommended physical activity levels—likely due to time constraints and inflexible work schedules. As many individuals incorporate walking and biking into their daily commutes, finding ways to support and enhance these practical forms of exercise may help increase overall physical activity among workers.
In this presentation, Dr. Avi Biswas shares results from a recent study examining how Canadians' decisions to walk or bike to work may be shaped by both the physical environment (e.g., walkability, cycling infrastructure, air pollution) and social environment (e.g., degree of marginalization and deprivation). Using Census and environmental data for over three million Canadian workers, Biswas identifies four combinations of physical and social environments around the areas where Canadians work and live and discusses whether any of these may encourage walking or biking to work.