Environmental and policy approaches to changing physical activity behaviour

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Physical activity reduces the risk of diseases such as diabetes and heart disease, and the health of most people in the UK and many other countries would be improved if the population were to become more physically active. However, efforts to bring this about have met with little success to date. One reason may be that the environments we have created for people to live in — our cities, transport systems and workplaces, for example — are not sufficiently conducive to an active lifestyle. Changing the economic, physical and social factors that influence our behaviour is possible, but more scientific evidence about the effects of doing so is needed to guide policy and practice. The aim of this research programme is to investigate the effects of environmental or policy changes on population physical activity patterns. We use a combination of epidemiological and social science research methods to study what happens when people’s circumstances change — for example, when new public transport, cycling or walking routes are provided or when people move into a new neighbourhood. This research is important because it enables us to understand which approaches to changing the environment are more or less beneficial to health, who is likely to benefit most from them and which offer the best value for money. Our findings can therefore make an important contribution to shaping policy to improve the health of the population.