The impact of spatial density and the configuration of space

This thesis aims to determine how and to what extent spatial factors of the physical environment impact on children’s travel, play and physical activity. These factors were introduced from an historical perspective, including the neurohumoral and ecological basis for early movement behaviour and global secular trends in human movement and use of space. This thesis incorporates a series of studies focusing on primary school aged children’s movement behaviour and the impact of the spatial environment at two levels, the neighbourhood, and the school playground.To examine the impact of space at the neighbourhood level three studies were undertaken. The first study aimed to provide a more complete description of daily travel patterns of 11-12 year-old Australian children and the personal and environmental factors that are associated with different levels of active transport impacted on AT levels included the distance to the destination, gender, Physical Activity Level of the child, SES, the destination type and parents’ satisfaction with their neighbourhood.