A Scoping Review of Bikeability Assessment Methods

Redefining Age-Friendly Neighbourhoods: Translating the Promises of Blue Zones for Contemporary Urban Environments

The longevity and healthy ageing observed in Blue Zones offer valuable insights for contemporary urban neighbourhood planning and design. This paper reviews the age-friendly features of the built environment in Blue Zones, aiming to translate these insights into actionable strategies for urban neighbourhood development. Employing a systematic literature review and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) analysis of Google Street View imagery, this study assesses the built environments in Blue Zones, including housing, public spaces, and transportation systems. Key findings highlight the presence of adaptable housing, building designs that foster a connection with nature, and semi-public spaces that encourage social interaction and physical activity. A notable emphasis on walkability and limited public transport access was observed. The CNN analysis corroborated these findings, providing a quantitative view of age-friendly features. This research contributes to the academic discourse in urban planning and design by providing practical insights for developing age-friendly neighbourhoods, inspired by Blue Zones. It concludes by offering policy advice and future research directions for creating sustainable and inclusive urban environments conducive to ageing populations.

A model to enhance breast cancer screening among rural women aged 40-75 years in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA): A scoping review

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

It is claimed that very little research has been done in Africa on breast cancer screening to identify the best method that can be adopted to have early detection of the malignancy. Breast cancer is a growing burden globally and in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). There is a rise in breast cancer mortality in SSA. This is caused by limited breast cancer screening or early detection practices due to limited resources which makes mammography unaffordable by the majority of women. This problem is more prevalent in elderly women living in rural areas where limited or no breast cancer screening is taking place. Downstaging which is context-specific is recommended for African countries but more studies are required to confirm its effectiveness.

OBJECTIVES

This review aims to identify the gaps in the literature focusing on strategies to enhance breast cancer screening among elderly women aged 40-75 years who reside in rural areas.

INCLUSION CRITERIA

The articles to be reviewed should focus on screening for the elderly women population that reside in rural areas and should fall within the age range of 40-75 years. Other phrases that can be included instead of breast cancer screening could be early detection measures, early diagnosis, or downstaging.

METHODOLOGY

The methodology was guided by the published manual for Joana Briggs Institute for scoping reviews. A search of the relevant studies was conducted on 4 October 2022 across PubMed, SCOPUS, Embase, and EBSCO Host databases. The systematic literature search strategy was developed and carried out using the Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) database. The eligibility criteria were developed using the Participants, Concept, and Context framework. Only articles written in English and published between 2010 and 2022 were considered. Removal of duplications was done first, followed by screening using the article title and abstract and then using full-text articles. The results of the search were profiled on the PRISMAScR flow chart diagram. Themes were identified from the conclusions of the reviewed studies.

RESULTS

After searching 78 citations were identified. These were screened and only 8 were left after the different stages of screening. The reviewed articles were published between 2010 and 2020. The majority (75%) of the studies were surveys except for two which were qualitative and all done in Kenya. No mixed methodology study was done. No study focused on developing a model to enhance breast cancer screening among rural women aged 40-75 years although there are very few countries in Africa with established nationwide breast cancer screening guidelines.

CONCLUSION

There are limited studies done on breast cancer screening of elderly rural women in SSA. No study was done to identify a model to enhance breast cancer screening among the rural elderly women population. None of the reviewed studies utilized the mixed methodology design to have an in-depth context-specific understanding to pave the way for the implementation of downstaging which is recommended for countries with limited resources.

CONTRIBUTION

The scoping review indicated the gap in research in terms of breast cancer screening among women aged 40-75 years who reside in rural areas and highlighted the future need for such studies to make downstaging effective.

Comparative Review of Environmental Audit Tools for Public Open Spaces from the Perspective of Children's Activity

Public open spaces are important venues for children's participation in outdoor activities and social life. This study performs a comparative and qualitative review of the tools that can be used to audit the environments of children-focused public open spaces. The analysis reviews 25 studies involving 11 tools for comparison. The results reveal that (1) the tools were developed in different fields; (2) the tools use two data resources, field investigation and geographic databases; (3) the tool dimensions are diverse, as are the number of items covered, and are generally related to four categories: surrounding environment and accessibility, activity and perceived safety, children's sports and play opportunities, and aesthetic and comfort of the environment; (4) the reliability of most tools has been verified, with some validity still to be confirmed; (5) there are differences in tool users, settings, and aims. Among the tools, the CPAT and the EAPRS are the most comprehensive. Comparative analysis of the tools provides a reference for studies on children-focused public open spaces and for the development and improvement of corresponding tools in the future.

Demand-driven design of bicycle infrastructure networks for improved urban bikeability

Cycling is crucial for sustainable urban transportation. Promoting cycling critically relies on sufficiently developed infrastructure; however, designing efficient bike path networks constitutes a complex problem that requires balancing multiple constraints. Here we propose a framework for generating efficient bike path networks, explicitly taking into account cyclists' demand distribution and route choices based on safety preferences. By reversing the network formation, we iteratively remove bike paths from an initially complete bike path network and continually update cyclists' route choices to create a sequence of networks adapted to the cycling demand. We illustrate the applicability of this demand-driven approach for two cities. A comparison of the resulting bike path networks with those created for homogenized demand enables us to quantify the importance of the demand distribution for network planning. The proposed framework may thus enable quantitative evaluation of the structure of current and planned cycling networks, and support the demand-driven design of efficient infrastructures.

Realtors' Perceptions of Social and Physical Neighborhood Characteristics Associated with Active Living: A Canadian Perspective

Realtors match home-seekers with neighborhoods that have built and social characteristics they desire to pursue active lifestyles. Studies have yet to explore realtors’ perspectives on neighborhood design that supports active living. Using qualitative description, our study was to explore the perceptions and understandings of neighborhood design (walkability, healthy, bike-ability, vibrancy, and livability) among urban residential realtors. Nineteen (6 men; 13 women; average age 48 years) self-identified residential realtors from Calgary, Edmonton, and Lethbridge (Canada) completed semi-structured telephone interviews. Content analysis identified themes from the interview data. Specifically, walkability was described as: perceived preferences, destinations and amenities, and connections; a healthy community was described as: encourages outdoor activities, and promotes social homogeneity; bike-ability was described as: bike-ability attributes, and was controversial; vibrancy was described as: community feel, and evidence of life; and livability was described as: subjective, and preferences and necessities. Our findings can inform the refinement of universal definitions and concepts used to in neighborhood urban design.