Healthy ageing and walkability

: investigating the role of cognition on walking in different environments

Abstract

Regular physical activity is crucial to maintaining older adults’ health and wellbeing, and walking is an important element of this due to its low impact and high accessibility. However, real-world walking is not as simple as it first appears, particularly in urban areas. Often, day-to-day walking involves simultaneously performing additional tasks such as socializing or navigating a route. This is referred to as dual task walking, and it can be particularly challenging for older adults due to age-related cognitive and physiological declines. In addition, walkability (how easy an area is to walk in) is dependent on many built environment elements, from large-scale features like residential and intersection density, to micro-scale features such as street structure. Areas of low walkability can act as a barrier to walking for older adults. In this thesis, we review current literature to identify two features of poor street structure which are commonly encountered by pedestrians in the UK- narrow pavements and irregular surfaces. Following this, the experimental chapters primarily aim to investigate whether these features, already associated with low walkability, would also be associated with gait changes or instability. We also investigated whether walking on narrow paths and irregular surfaces would be more cognitively taxing for older adults, by testing their performance under single- and dual-task conditions. Finally, we pivot to consider how built environment modifications related to Covid-19 impact walkability and older adults’ physical activity in their neighbourhood. The General Discussion then summarizes prominent themes concerning the built environment influence on older adult’s physical activity, gait characteristics, and cognitive performance, as well as the methodological limitations and real-world implications of this work.

Thesis is embargoed until 31 July 2026.

Date of Award	Jul 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Queen's University Belfast
Sponsors	Northern Ireland Department for the Economy
Supervisor	Mihalis Doumas (Supervisor) & Geraint Ellis (Supervisor)