Children’s independent mobility (CIM) has declined dramatically in recent decades despite its benefits in facilitating childhood development, promoting physical activity, and combating the obesity epidemic. This US-based study examines the impacts of housing and neighborhood environments on two modes of CIM—home-based independent travel to non-school destinations and unsupervised outdoor play—while considering personal and social factors. A bilingual parent/guardian survey was distributed to public elementary schools in Austin, Texas, asking about children’s travel and play, housing and neighborhood environments, and personal and social factors. A Google Street View audit was conducted to capture additional housing-related information. Logistic regressions were used to predict CIM. For second to fifth graders (N = 525), less than two-thirds of the parents would allow children’s independent travel to non-school destinations (62%) and unsupervised outdoor play (57.9%), with the majority limited to a short distance (five-minute walk) and a few destinations (e.g., friend’s/relative’s home). Stranger danger was a negative predictor and the presence of friend’s/relative’s home was a positive predictor for both modes of CIM. Quality of neighborhood environment was another positive correlate for independent travel to non-school destinations. Significant personal and social factors were also identified. Study findings demonstrated the impacts of physical environments on CIM and the potential of using relevant interventions to promote children’s health and development.

Environmental designers have a social responsibility to incorporate health-conscious and human-centered design into their professional practice, thereby contributing to a healthier future. This concluding chapter focuses on health by design and discusses approaches to integrating design and research for health promotion through environmental design. Referring to the concept of evidence-based medicine, we advocate for a more systematic approach to applied design research that facilitates comparison across studies and allows inference of causal relationships when feasible. Various research designs are introduced and evaluated for their pros and cons in applied design research, followed by an introduction to literature review methods that can help designers identify the best available evidence for their projects. We also introduce the reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance (RE-AIM) framework for designing interventions that can be effective in health promotion through environmental design.