The bikeability and walkability evaluation table reliability and application

Abstract

Background: With increased research on the influence of the built environment on physical activity, methods of assessing environmental attributes have to be developed according to different research requirements.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the approach to develop and test a simple and efficient audit tool to get a quick overview of environmental characteristics along a route or in a neighborhood.

Methods: Based on a selection of existing audit instruments, the Bikeability and Walkability Evaluation Table (BiWET) was developed in 2007 at the University of Graz, Austria. The BiWET is designed for fast assessment of 15 predetermined characteristics of 10-m street segments. Inter-rater and Intra-rater reliability was calculated in 2008 based on the auditing data of 152 km of commuting routes of city dwellers in 2007. Observer agreement was used as statistical parameter for reliability.

Results: The mean auditing pace was 16.4 minutes/km. The mean test-retest accordance was 95%, and the inter-rater agreement was 89%.

Conclusions: The BiWET is a reliable and time-efficient audit instrument to determine accurately and relatively quickly the physical characteristics of an area or route, which is potentially useful for the study of the relationship between the built environment and physical activity behavior.