9.

Summary
Taken together, our national work suggests that environmental
factors play an important role in shaping obesity-related
behaviors, particularly physical activity. This is a field in its
infancy. While we clearly do not have the empirical base to
assert that wide-spread changes in the built environment will
lead to population-wide increases in physical activity, there is
building evidence of the important relationship between
environmental correlates and physical activity behavior. Innovative
work across fields, such as public health, geography, and
city and regional planning, as well as methodological advances
in those fields is essential in understanding the environment
health relationships. In addition, future work should explore
diverse population and environmental settings, and longitudinal
changes in environmental factors and behavioral outcomes