Virtual Assessment of Physical Activity–Related Built Environment in Soweto, South Africa: What Is the Role of Contextual Familiarity?
Understanding how urban environments shape physical activity is critical in rapidly urbanizing countries such as South Africa. We assessed the reliability of virtual audits for characterizing urban features related to physical activity in Soweto, South Africa. We used the Microscale Audit of Pedestrian Streetscapes Global tool to characterize pedestrian-related features from Google Street View images in four neighborhoods of Soweto. Neighborhoods were selected to represent different levels of deprivation. Inter-rater reliability was analyzed according to the rater's familiarity with the local area. The results show a higher inter-rater reliability was observed among auditors with greater contextual familiarity. Many measurements however generated inconclusive results due to either low variability in the raters' responses or the absence of the features in the streets. It is evident from our findings that virtual audits are efficient tools that can be used to assess the built environment. However, to ensure meaningful use of these tools in diverse settings, we recommend that auditors comprise of people with contextual familiarity.
Authors
- Lisa K. Micklesfield (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4994-0779)
- Adalberto Aparecido dos Santos Lopes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3001-6412)
- Motlatso Godongwana (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0981-732X)
- Alice McGushin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9674-0457)
- Damilola Odekunle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0044-2293)
- Tolu Oni (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4499-1910)
- Louise Foley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3028-7340)
- Yves Wasnyo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3417-4124)
- Tiago Canelas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2064-8456)
- Edwin Ngwa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3342-346X)
- Eva Coringrato
- Khulu Gama
- Vongani Maluleke
- Boris Elouna
- Muhammad Rabiu Balarabe
Institutions
- South African Medical Research Council (ZA)
- Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (BR)
- Université de Yaoundé I (CM)
- University of Cape Town (ZA)
- University of the Witwatersrand (ZA)
- University of Lagos (NG)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- RAND Europe (GB)
- MRC Epidemiology Unit (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Urban Health
- Published
- 2024-09-10
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-024-00914-3
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Urban Transport and Accessibility
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.68
Funders
- Government of the United Kingdom
- National Institute for Health and Care Research
- Department of Health and Social Care