An Index to describe the diversity of exercise environments in residents' neighbourhoods

Abstract

Exercise is a necessity for healthy living. It has various positive effects on physical, mental, social, and emotional well-being. The variety of sports facilities and other exercise environments in proximity to residents can support a physically active way of life. Providing equal access to exercise environments, especially in lower socioeconomic neighbourhoods, may level off well-being gaps between neighbourhoods, thereby reducing some of the effects of segregation. In Finland, municipalities have the main responsibility to provide equal exercise services to all residents. In this article, we present a new index for calculating and analysing the number of different exercise environments residents have access to in their surrounding area. A tool for calculating a diversity index for exercise environments is also published as part of the Finnish National Sports Database System (LIPAS, https://www.lipas.fi). This tool supports municipalities and cities in planning and improving equal access to diverse exercise environments and allows researchers to carry out further studies within this topic.