Promoting Physical Activity Through Sustainable Urban Green Spaces—An Empirical Investigation of Italian Habits

This paper examines the relationship between urban green spaces and sport participation among Italian adults, using microdata from the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) for the period 2014–2022. The analysis focuses on whether living within walking distance of equipped green areas is associated with individual physical activity behavior, as urban green infrastructure may represent a cornerstone of social and environmental sustainability and act as crucial determinants of active lifestyles and urban community well-being. Two binary indicators are constructed to identify individuals who practice sport either occasionally or regularly. Probit and logit regression models are used to estimate the association between access to public green spaces and sport participation, controlling for individual socio-demographic, economic and health characteristics, as well as geographical and time effects. The results reveal a statistically significant positive relationship between proximity to green spaces and physical activity. Average marginal effects indicate that living near a park increases the probability of practicing sport by 40.2 percentage points among occasional participants and by 27.3 percentage points among regular participants. These findings provide empirical evidence that accessible public green infrastructure plays a crucial role as an environmental determinant of healthier lifestyles. From a policy perspective, the results support the role of local governments in promoting physical activity through investments in accessible and well-designed urban green infrastructure, highlighting the prominent role of dedicated parks in promoting public health sustainability and inclusive urban planning frameworks.