The main aim of the Physical Activity in Localities and Community Environments (PLACE) study is to identify the relationships between the characteristics of people's local community environments and their physical activity habits. Specifically, it investigates whether people who live in ‘walkable' communities are more physically active, after adjusting for socio-economic status. The study design allows comparisons among communities stratified by walkability and socio-economic status (SES) in order to evaluate the association of physical environment variables with physical activity. A prospective component over six months was included. A multi-stage sampling strategy was used to select 32 neighborhoods in the metropolitan area of Adelaide, stratified as:

• high walkable; high socio-economic status (n = 8)
• high walkable; low socio-economic status (n = 8)
• low walkable; high socio-economic status (n = 8)
• low walkable; low socio-economic status (n = 8)

These 32 neighborhoods consisted of 154 census collection districts (CCD). A CCD is the smallest administrative unit used by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) to collect census data. The communities were selected from 2078 CCDs, comprising urban CCD only, in the Adelaide Statistical Division. The study sample was assembled from contiguous clusters of CCD that were identified using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) methods as high or low walkable communities, and matched for socio-economic status (SES). The ‘Walkability Index' in the PLACE Study is constructed from four GIS-derived attributes. These are dwelling density, street connectivity, land use mix and net retail area.

2560 adults, aged 20-65, participated in Survey 1. They were randomly selected from private dwelling addresses in the selected CCDs. They were asked to complete a questionnaire, which included the Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale (gauging attributes of the built environment believed to be associated with walking), the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), items on socio-demographic characteristics, scales assessing socio-psychological factors believed to be associated with physical activity behavior (e.g., enjoyment of physical activity, social support for physical activity, perceived barriers to engagement in physical activity) and scales assessing home equipment and neighborhood convenient facilities for active leisure activities.

Six months after the completion of Survey 1, the participants were asked to fill out a second survey which included measures of physical activity (IPAQ), quality of life, neighborhood satisfaction, neighborhood preferences, neighborhood cohesion and informal social control, satisfaction with life, places for physical activity, everyday commuting activities, destinations they walked to, biking behavior, sitting time, injury, time spent outdoors and socio-demographic characteristics.