Background: There is increasing interest in the role that technology can play in improving the vitality of knowledge workers. A promising and widely adopted strategy to attain this goal is to reduce sedentary behavior (SB) and increase physical activity (PA). In this paper, we review the state-of-the-art SB and PA interventions using technology in the office environment. By scoping the existing landscape, we identified current gaps and underexplored possibilities. We discuss opportunities for future development and research on SB and PA interventions using technology. Methods: A systematic search was conducted in the Association for Computing Machinery digital library, the interdisciplinary library Scopus, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Xplore Digital Library to locate peer-reviewed scientific articles detailing SB and PA technology interventions in office environments between 2009 and 2019. Results: The initial search identified 1130 articles, of which 45 studies were included in the analysis. Our scoping review focused on the technologies supporting the interventions, which were coded using a grounded approach. Conclusion: Our findings showed that current SB and PA interventions using technology provide limited possibilities for physically active ways of working as opposed to the common strategy of prompting breaks. Interventions are also often offered as additional systems or services, rather than integrated into existing office infrastructures. With this work, we have mapped different types of interventions and provide an increased understanding of the opportunities for future multidisciplinary development and research of technologies to address sedentary behavior and physical activity in the office context.

Empirical research provides evidence that, in neighborhoods with higher walkability, individuals make more walking trips. However, it is not clear what the exact nature is of the relationships between neighborhood walkability and walking trips, since a higher walking frequency can be explained in different ways. This study examined whether the extra walking trips in better walkable neighborhoods are related primarily to trip generation, destination choice, or transport mode choice and whether this is the same for different age groups. A neighborhood fixed effects regression analysis was conducted in a first step to obtain a walkability measure for each neighborhood in the Netherlands including systematic as well as unobserved effects. Subsequently, the estimated fixed effects were used as walkability data for a path analysis based on a causal model to test the hypotheses stated. The results of the path analysis show direct relationships of neighborhood walkability with trip generation, destination choice, and transport mode choice, after controlling for the mutual relationships between the activity and trip variables. Comparing different age groups (i.e., children, adults, and elderly), the differences found mostly concerned the relationship between neighborhood walkability and trip generation. We concluded therefore that conditions for walkability are not the same for all age groups.

Urban digital twins (UDTs) were first discussed in 2018. Seven years later, we ask: What has been their contribution to urban planning and decision making so far? Here, we systematically review 88 peer-reviewed articles to map and compare UDTs’ ambitions with their realized contributions. Our results indicate that despite the vast technical developments, socio-technical challenges have remained largely unaddressed, causing many of UDTs’ ambitions to remain unrealized. We identify three categories in these socio-technical challenges: interdisciplinary integration (II), consensual contextualization (CC), and procedural operationalization (PO). Accordingly, we consolidate a socio-technical research and development agenda to realize the ambitions of UDTs for urban planning and decision making: Augmented Urban Planning (AUP).

By conceptualizing a link between the cycling experience and the associated methods in understanding the former, the perspective of a cyclist is highlighted as an opportunity for research in urban design. A systematic review of 20 empirical papers across a variety of disciplines covering both walking and cycling experiences was conducted. This paper links social, sensory and spatial experiences, and connects these experiences to textual, visual and evaluative methodologies. This paper proposes how cycling can be considered in design research; it also provides an insight into how various methods enhance our understanding of cyclists and their surroundings.

Recent innovations in business models and technology have brought out new mobility systems, including shared and electric micro-mobility. A rapidly expanding strand of literature mirrors the micro-mobility’s exponential growth and popularity. While many studies analyze micro-mobility from operations, management and user perspectives, fewer works investigate the micro-mobility and built environment (BE) relationship. This paper systematically reviews the descriptive and empirical studies that investigate this relationship. It analyzes whether, similar to other transportation modes, micro-mobility (e.g., bike-sharing schemes and e-bikes/e-scooters) can potentially influence three BE aspects: urban design, land use, and transportation system. Furthermore, it outlines the recommended changes in the BE to support the micro-mobility and/or enhance the quality of the environment for non-users. This paper investigates the BE and micro-mobility relation at the three levels of node (e.g., the emergence of docking stations and parking stops), link (e.g., the street-level conflicts with walking/cycling/vehicle lanes) and network (e.g., infrastructure network creation and catchment area shifts). In addition, this relation is explored over time, based on the development stage of micro-mobility, the BE aspect (urban design, land use, or transport system), and spatial context (urban or rural). The findings are relevant for urban and transport planners, designers, researchers, policy makers and public authorities. They contribute to a much-needed evidence base for effective design and policy recommendations to accommodate micro-mobility in the BE to achieve a safe and inclusive public space.

In the digital age, time spent outdoor in green areas is significantly decreasing for children living in cities. With the advent of digital technology, a series of digital tools are gradually integrated into children’s lives and act as a double-edged sword: on the one hand, an increasing number of children tend to stay at home and play digital games instead of interacting with nature; on the other hand, new digital technology is increasingly being used to engage children with outdoor activities. A host of studies have investigated children’s behaviour in the natural environment. However, a systematic literature review of children’s interaction with the urban green infrastructure (UGI) and the respective role of digital environment, based on a theoretical framework that explicitly takes the multi-level determinants and individual-level mechanism of behaviour change into account does not exist yet. This work provides a conceptual framework that covers various determinants, such as motivation, capability, and opportunity related factors of children’s behaviour in terms of their UGI interaction at the city and neighbourhood levels, while taking into account the individual-level mechanism of behavioural change and the role of the digital environment. The framework is used to systematically review recent international empirical evidence on the determinants of children–UGI interaction. The results are useful for laying the theoretical foundation for future empirical research on children–UGI interaction, specifically in the presence of digital interventions. They also provide urban/digital intervention designers and policymakers with theory-based design and policy guidelines for the creation of child-friendly UGI.