Canadian Active Living Environments 2.0: Development of an open-source pipeline for the replication and extension of the Canadian Active Living Environments measure.

Abstract

Background: The Canadian Active Living Environments (Can-ALE) project was developed in 2019 to provide a standardized, pan-Canadian indicator of how supportive neighbourhood built environments are for physical activity and active transportation, enabling comparisons across places and over time. Can-ALE 1.0 produced measures for the 2006 and 2016 census years, but it did not include 2011 or 2021. As well, the data and processing steps were not packaged in a fully reproducible format, limiting longitudinal analyses and replication. In this study, the original measure was replicated and extended by developing Can-ALE 2.0, an open-source, reproducible R-based workflow to generate Can-ALE metrics for the 2011, 2016, and 2021 census years.

Data and methods: Can-ALE 2.0 was calculated for all Canadian dissemination areas (DAs) using four key measures: weighted dwelling density, transit stop counts, street intersection density (intersections where three or more streets meet), and a weighted point-of-interest measure. To better represent where residents actually live within each DA, these components were calculated using a population-weighted centroid (based on where people are concentrated) rather than the geometric centroid (the centre of the area). DAs were then classified into five ordered support categories using k-medians clustering based on the overall index.

Results: Over the decade from 2011 to 2021, the national distribution of DAs shifted toward more supportive active living environments: the proportion classified in the two least supportive categories declined, while the share in the moderate and high support categories increased. When transit stop availability was incorporated to create a transit-inclusive version of Can-ALE 2.0 (available for 2016 and 2021), the proportion of DAs classified in the highest support category increased from 6.6% to 12.2% in 2016 and from 6.0% to 10.3% in 2021, indicating that transit access meaningfully changes how neighbourhood support for active living is characterized.

Interpretation: This study developed an updated, open-source, reproducible methodology to generate Can-ALE 2.0, which extends Can-ALE coverage to 2011, 2016, and 2021 and improves geographic accuracy by using population-weighted centroids. By providing a standardized longitudinal dataset (and a transit-inclusive version for 2016 and 2021), Can-ALE 2.0 can be used in future studies to examine how changes in neighbourhood built environments relate to physical activity and health outcomes, and to inform policies and investments that aim to reduce physical inactivity, obesity, and diabetes.