Where Active Older Adults Walk

There is little evidence about how path-design characteristics at site and building scale may be related to where active older adults choose to walk. This article describes the findings from an empirical study examining the relationship between physical environmental characteristics of path segments and their use for walking for recreation or instrumental reasons by 114 active residents on three retirement community campuses. The study uses a combination of methods—resident questionnaires, path assessment, and morphological analysis of building and campus plans. Path use for instrumental walking was related to path segments being well-connected in the path network and having specific destinations along them. Path segments that were likely to be selected for recreational walking at the three case study sites were longer, were well connected, did not have steps, and had attractive views of campus.