Mobile app promotes a more active urban lifestyle in over 55s
An app developed as part of a citizen science initiative called Every Walk You Take is helping Barcelona’s middle aged to discover green routes and to lead a healthier, more active lifestyle. The initiative is supported by the EU-funded Impetus project, whose aim is to provide a wider range of citizen science initiatives with access to innovative funding. As described in the journal ‘Sustainability’, Every Walk You Take’s goal was to create a mobile app that promotes physical activity. It helps identify aspects that facilitate active living in people over the age of 55, as well as those that serve as obstacles to such a lifestyle. “Every Walk You Take aims to empower citizens to experience an active and healthy ageing process through scientifically proven tools,” explains initiative coordinator and study senior author María Grau of the University of Barcelona Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences in a ‘EurekAlert!’ news item. The app recommends personalised routes in the city, with information on parks, pedestrian lanes and streets. Recommendations are based on geolocation data, environmental variables (e.g. air quality, climate) and personal preferences (e.g. route difficulty, distance). Users can also take pictures and make voice notes to identify things that make taking a particular route easier or more difficult.
Pilot in two neighbourhoods
To test the app, the researchers conducted a pilot study over two 7-day cycles with citizen scientists recruited at the life-long learning centres of Trinitat Vella and Bon Pastor, two deprived neighbourhoods in Barcelona. A total of 21 citizen scientists (86 % women, average age 67) participated in the pilot. In the course of the study, real-time data was collected in the form of 112 ecological momentary assessments made through pictures and voice notes. They reflect the participants’ perceived barriers to and enablers of active living. “This project has allowed us to interact with many agents in the Trinitat Vella and Bon Pastor neighbourhoods through the adult education centres in both areas,” notes Prof. Grau. “The active collaboration of teachers and students from these centres has been decisive in testing the prototype of the application in this participatory science initiative.” Every Walk You Take is presented as a sustainable mobile health intervention that promotes healthy living, empowering as it does the citizens of Barcelona to take care of their own health. In addition, it allows people to discover new urban landscapes and green spaces, making physical activity a more pleasant and appealing experience. “In the future, the idea is to expand the project in a phase in which more municipalities from all over Spain and Europe will participate, to create a real network that gives citizens a voice to identify barriers and obstacles on routes to improve their health,” concludes Prof. Grau. The Impetus project ends in 2026. For more information, please see: Impetus project website
Keywords
Impetus, citizen science, app, green route, health, lifestyle, active lifestyle, active living, physical activity
