Urban form and family-engaged active leisure: impact assessment using census data and night-time satellite images

This research examines whether urban form indicators are useful predictors of family-engaged active leisure among US population. The study sample includes 23,759 adult respondents from the 2003 to 2008 American Time Use Survey who lived with family members in 326 metropolitan counties. Urban form is measured at the county level by two methods: one uses the remotely-sensed night-time satellite imagery and generates scale-adjusted sprawl indices based upon per capita land consumption, and another uses the ground-based census data and generates a multi-dimensional measurement system, termed 3C + P: compactness, continuity, centrality and proximity. Regression results across models consistently suggest a significant and negative association between sprawl and daily time spent on family-engaged active leisure. The scale-adjusted sprawl indices are found to be on par with the 3C + P indicators in measuring urban sprawl and predicting family-engaged active leisure. Implications of the findings for researchers and practitioners are discussed.