-->PONE-D-26-07970-->-->Healthy living environments create healthy physical activity-related habits (ELEVATE): A protocol for a smartphone-based mixed-method study-->-->PLOS One

Dear Dr. Helbich,

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PLOS One

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

-->Comments to the Author

1. Does the manuscript provide a valid rationale for the proposed study, with clearly identified and justified research questions?

The research question outlined is expected to address a valid academic problem or topic and contribute to the base of knowledge in the field.-->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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-->2. Is the protocol technically sound and planned in a manner that will lead to a meaningful outcome and allow testing the stated hypotheses?

The manuscript should describe the methods in sufficient detail to prevent undisclosed flexibility in the experimental procedure or analysis pipeline, including sufficient outcome-neutral conditions (e.g. necessary controls, absence of floor or ceiling effects) to test the proposed hypotheses and a statistical power analysis where applicable. As there may be aspects of the methodology and analysis which can only be refined once the work is undertaken, authors should outline potential assumptions and explicitly describe what aspects of the proposed analyses, if any, are exploratory.-->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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-->3. Is the methodology feasible and described in sufficient detail to allow the work to be replicable?

Descriptions of methods and materials in the protocol should be reported in sufficient detail for another researcher to reproduce all experiments and analyses. The protocol should describe the appropriate controls, sample size calculations, and replication needed to ensure that the data are robust and reproducible.-->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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-->4. Have the authors described where all data underlying the findings will be made available when the study is complete?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception, at the time of publication. The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.-->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

-->5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.-->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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-->6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above and, if applicable, provide comments about issues authors must address before this protocol can be accepted for publication. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about research or publication ethics.

You may also provide optional suggestions and comments to authors that they might find helpful in planning their study.

(Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)-->

Reviewer #1: Thank you for inviting me to review this study protocol that seeks to an important public health and urban planning question: how micro-scale streetscape characteristics shape walking-related physical activity and how these relationships may differ across socioeconomic groups. The protocol is ambitious and has several notable strengths, including the integration of smartphone-based GPS and step-count data, detailed environmental exposure assessment using street-view imagery and GIS, and a mixed-methods design that combines quantitative analysis with qualitative interviews and co-creation elements. The emphasis on equity is also a clear strength. Overall, this is a strong and interesting protocol with a solid rationale, a well-designed mixed-methods approach, and clear relevance for both research and practice. Below please see my specific concerns.

1. In the data analysis plan section, the authors explain that GPS trajectories will be cleaned and matched with environmental indicators, which is helpful. It would further strengthen the protocol if the authors briefly clarify how exposures will be estimated. A short clarification here would improve transparency and reproducibility.

2. The manuscript already addresses ethics, pseudonymization, GDPR compliance, and secure storage, which is very good. Because GPS trajectories are particularly sensitive, it would be helpful to add one or two more sentences on practical geoprivacy protections, for example how home/work locations or highly identifying path information will be handled in derived datasets and outputs.

3. For the qualitative component, a brief note on coder procedures and how qualitative and quantitative findings will be integrated would make the protocol even clearer.

Reviewer #2: This research proposal employs a smartphone-based mixed-methods approach to investigate the association between urban streetscape environments and walking-related physical activity (WPA). The topic carries practical significance for both public health and urban planning, and puts forward systematic solutions to critical gaps in existing research regarding data collection, environmental assessment scales, study design, and research translation.

The following revision suggestions are provided for the authors’reference.

1. (Introduction) (Background and rationale): On page 3, it is mentioned that “threshold effects may exist in these associations”, yet no specific examples of environmental characteristic thresholds (e.g., thresholds for green space coverage or street connectivity) are cited from existing literature. It is recommended to supplement 1–2 typical cases to lay a more solid foundation for subsequent research hypotheses and analyses.

2. Objectives and hypotheses: Hypothesis 4 states that “co-created urban streetscape design principles will increase WPA usage in public spaces”, but does not specify the methods for testing this hypothesis (e.g., pre–post comparison, simulation application evaluation). It is recommended to add such details to align research hypotheses with subsequent methods.

3. (Study site): Only the research advantages of Amsterdam are described (clear socioeconomic and health inequalities, abundant streetscape data), without addressing the potential impacts of the city’s unique streetscape characteristics (e.g., high-density neighbourhoods, extensive bicycle lane networks) on WPA. It is recommended to supplement this background and clarify the generalisability boundaries of the study findings.

4. Recruitment and survey design: It is mentioned that “community ambassadors will be engaged to recruit vulnerable groups”, but the selection criteria for community ambassadors and recruitment incentives are not specified. It is recommended to supplement these details to ensure recruitment feasibility and sample diversity.

5. Data analysis plan: It is noted that “directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) will be used to identify potential covariates from questionnaires”, yet the core variable set and construction method for DAG development are not explained; this content should be added. Meanwhile, the analytical division of labour between mixed-effects negative binomial regression models and XGBoost models is not clarified (e.g., the former for testing linear associations and the latter for exploring nonlinear and interactive effects). It is recommended to refine the logic of model application.

6. Practical and operational considerations: It is mentioned that “smartphone data collection is affected by battery consumption and signal loss”, but no specific technical solutions are proposed (e.g., low-power collection modes, offline data storage), with only pilot testing mentioned. It is recommended to supplement targeted mitigation measures to enhance the study’s operability.

7. (Conclusions): The conclusion only emphasises the research value for “equitable, walkable urban environments” without explicitly acknowledging study limitations (e.g., the sample being limited to Amsterdam, impacts of urban environmental changes during the study period). It is recommended to add a limitation analysis to make the conclusions more objective.

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-->7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.-->

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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Healthy living environments create healthy physical activity-related habits (ELEVATE): A protocol for a smartphone-based mixed-method study

PONE-D-26-07970R1

Dear Dr. Helbich,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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Kind regards,

Dong Liu, Ph.D.

Academic Editor

PLOS One

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

-->Comments to the Author

1. Does the manuscript provide a valid rationale for the proposed study, with clearly identified and justified research questions?

The research question outlined is expected to address a valid academic problem or topic and contribute to the base of knowledge in the field.-->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

-->2. Is the protocol technically sound and planned in a manner that will lead to a meaningful outcome and allow testing the stated hypotheses?

The manuscript should describe the methods in sufficient detail to prevent undisclosed flexibility in the experimental procedure or analysis pipeline, including sufficient outcome-neutral conditions (e.g. necessary controls, absence of floor or ceiling effects) to test the proposed hypotheses and a statistical power analysis where applicable. As there may be aspects of the methodology and analysis which can only be refined once the work is undertaken, authors should outline potential assumptions and explicitly describe what aspects of the proposed analyses, if any, are exploratory.-->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

-->3. Is the methodology feasible and described in sufficient detail to allow the work to be replicable?

Descriptions of methods and materials in the protocol should be reported in sufficient detail for another researcher to reproduce all experiments and analyses. The protocol should describe the appropriate controls, sample size calculations, and replication needed to ensure that the data are robust and reproducible.-->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

-->4. Have the authors described where all data underlying the findings will be made available when the study is complete?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception, at the time of publication. The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.-->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

-->5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.-->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

-->6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above and, if applicable, provide comments about issues authors must address before this protocol can be accepted for publication. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about research or publication ethics.

You may also provide optional suggestions and comments to authors that they might find helpful in planning their study.

(Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)-->

Reviewer #1: Thank you for addressing my concerns. I do not have other questions. I think the protocol is ready for publication now.

Reviewer #2: The author has carefully revised the manuscript and fully addressed all the questions and suggestions I put forward in my review, and I recommend acceptance.

**********

-->7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.-->

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

**********