Extract

Given the increased problem of sedentary behaviour within the workplace and the associated health risks, there is a need to understand the ability for office design to support increased activity during the workday. This paper presents an overview of methods and methodologies that have the potential to provide an understanding of the relationship between people’s physical activity and office settings. In recent years rapid technological developments have improved our ability to quantitatively map people’s movement within buildings. Simultaneously there is an increasing articulation of architectural contexts as consisting of not only the physical space but also lived experience. This paper reviews three methodological approaches—quantitative movement measurement, space syntax analysis and ethnography—and selected methods within these for their ability to provide insight into the relationship between people’s physical activity levels and an office context when this is understood to contain both physical and lived aspects. This paper concludes that a selection of methods across these methodologies offers the best opportunity to explore the relationship between people’s physical activity and the office context.

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