Progress, limitations, and prospects for improvement in understanding the impact of urban built environment on residents’ leisure-time physical activity in China: A systematic review

Leisure-time physical activities (LTPAs) play a crucial role in improving health. Likewise, improving certain aspects of the built environment is essential for promoting residents to engage in LTPA. However, the impact of urban built environment characteristics on residents’ levels of LTPA and its underlying mechanism remain unclear. To address this gap, we conducted a systematic literature review in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines. In 2022, we searched eight databases and identified 453 relevant publications. The selected literature had to meet specific inclusion criteria: (i) the sample targeted Chinese adults (≥18 years), and (ii) it quantified the effect of urban built environment characteristics on residents’ levels of LTPA. Out of the initial pool, 18 articles met our inclusion criteria. Our findings indicate that although previous studies have revealed that esthetic perception and road safety can facilitate residents’ participation in LTPA, there is a lack of methods for identifying built environment characteristics and analyzing the psychosocial mediation mechanism between the built environment and LTPA in specific populations. Improving the robustness of research conclusions is an important research direction that will yield solid evidence of the impact of the urban environment on human health. Limited evidence exists regarding the association between urban built environment characteristics in China and residents’ LTPA levels. However, advancements in remote sensing images, computer vision in artificial intelligence, and machine learning technologies offer innovative avenues for modeling built environments and land use functions. Developing an impact mechanism model of the built environment and LTPA using individual perceptions and social psychological factors as mediating mechanisms is imperative. This approach will serve as a reference for urban spatial optimization and the development of spatial planning intervention tools.