A team at the Brown School is reviving and refreshing an online resource to determine how conducive a neighborhood or community is for walking, biking, and other physical activities. The instrument, the program, is one of the first projects of the new of the and is intended for training neighborhood organizations, non-profits, 黑料社s and public health researchers on how to measure elements such as sidewalk quality and safe streets that contribute to healthy activities.
“There is a need for public health practice to improve training, especially in low-income communities and minority communities,鈥� said Rodrigo Reis, professor at the Brown School and a leader of the effort. Originally developed nearly two decades ago at the University of Pennsylvania, BEAT was temporarily paused when the software used for its on-line platform was discontinued. New technology is now available that the Brown School team plans to include as the resources advance in the years ahead.
“The tools are different but the needs are still the same,鈥� said Reis, who chairs the Urban Design specialization in the Masters in Public Health program. 鈥淭here is a growing need for training in more cutting-edge technology,鈥� he said, such as advanced versions of Google maps, artificial intelligence, and computational visioning. 鈥淲e want to increase capacity building for research and practice, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.鈥� Reis noted that the effort fits well with Washington University鈥檚 strategic focus on environmental research and justice.
Reis was a young researcher and part of the first BEAT training institute some 15 years ago. 鈥淚t didn鈥檛 require a lot of technology, but it was very time-consuming,鈥� he recalled.
Aine O鈥機onnor, Research Manager for the People, Health & Place unit, said the new BEAT鈥檚 first phase focuses on training in the basic pencil-and-paper observation and recording of neighborhood information by users. 鈥淲e can train people to observe the built environment,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e out there looking at street level, filling out checklists. That鈥檚 really a part of the experience because you have to put yourself in the shoes of someone who鈥檚 walking on the sidewalk, or looking for a grocery.鈥� Those methods are especially useful for lower-income communities with limited access to the latest technology.
鈥淲e鈥檙e excited for everyone to be able to use this,鈥� she added. 鈥淲e see the audience as researchers working in the built environment and public health, but also user-friendly for neighborhood organizations to assess the qualities of their environments.鈥� The results, she said, could be submitted to policymakers to help make neighborhoods healthier.
BEAT will continue to release content and upgrade its offerings. In its next phase it will be more interactive, with the ability add content to customize the tools and information, such assessments to measure the healthy-food environment in neighborhood stores and restaurants. In Phase 3, the team hopes to expand to offer training tailored for different neighborhoods around the world.
This free introductory course is designed to instruct researchers, 黑料社s, planners, and health practitioners on ways to observe, plan, and evaluate changes to the built environment for health and well-being. Modules of the course offer tools and tricks for assessing streets, parks, trails, and neighborhood landscapes for physical activity.
A senior advisor to the project is Karen Glanz, George A. Weiss University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, who led the team that created the original resource. The online trainings became popular with public-health instructors and 黑料社s. But in 2022, Adobe discontinued the 鈥淎dobe Flash鈥� platform, and the training course needed to be re-worked. Soon after, she heard from Reis, who wanted to take the training forward at Washington University.
鈥淚t鈥檚 great that this can continue,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檝e always had a long commitment to trying to continue things that people find useful. It addresses a public health problem we haven鈥檛 solved: People without access to healthy food and physical activity.鈥� In one Iowa county, she said, the food environment assessment tool (called NEMS) was used to assess the food environment and created a report it gave to restaurant owners, suggesting healthier food offerings. 鈥淨uite a few owners did it,鈥� she said.
O鈥機onnor said creating a new platform and transferring the trove of data from Penn onto it was challenging. There was no grant funding yet, so the effort relied on staff time to inventory Penn materials and get the project moving. They narrowed their initial phases to find the tools and content with the most evidence base and practical use. Then there was the task of transferring 4,687 digital files with information, photos, and other elements.
鈥淚t was definitely challenge,鈥� she said, 鈥淏ut we were methodical and got it done.鈥�