Build it and they shall come
Examining the effects of the ONIKURU multifunctional facility on daily walking time
2025-03-26
(Press-News.org)
Designing walkable neighborhoods has gained attention as a method to increase physical activity among urban populations. Moreover, highly walkable areas stimulate increased neighborhood retail sales, higher property values, and greater urban sustainability. However, only limited methods are available for improving walkability in the urban centers of highly motorized suburban cities. In the urban areas of suburban cities, increasing land-use diversity by opening a multifunctional facility is considered one of the most effective strategies for an architecture-scale intervention.
Dr. Haruka Kato, a junior associate professor at Osaka Metropolitan University, examined the impact of a new multifunctional facility on residents’ daily walking time. This experiment analyzed the case of the Ibaraki City Cultural and Childcare Complex ONIKURU, a public multifunctional facility designed by famed Japanese architect Toyo Ito.
The results revealed that the opening of ONIKURU significantly increased the average walking time of visitors by 3.165 min/day compared to non-visitors. Specifically, visitors’ average walking time improved to a level comparable to non-visitors’ after the facility opened. In addition, the opening of the facility significantly increased female young adults’ average walking time by 3.385 min/day. Therefore, this study provides theoretical contributions to building a health-promoting environment that affects walking through architecture-scale intervention.
“These findings highlight essential considerations for urban planners aiming to design health-promoting built environments in urban centers,” said Dr. Kato. “This research used GPS-trajectory data, which succeeded in calculating the effect of one multifunctional facility among many land uses from the perspective of average daily walking time. This contribution provided significant insights into the causality between land use and physical activity.”
The findings were published in Scientific Reports.
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About OMU
Established in Osaka as one of the largest public universities in Japan, Osaka Metropolitan University is committed to shaping the future of society through the “Convergence of Knowledge” and the promotion of world-class research. For more research news, visit https://www.omu.ac.jp/en/ and follow us on social media: X, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn.
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[Press-News.org] Build it and they shall come
Examining the effects of the ONIKURU multifunctional facility on daily walking time
