Dr. Andy Hong, faculty member at the University of Utah and director of the Healthy Aging and Resilient Places (HARP) Lab, is leading a groundbreaking project that applies artificial intelligence and street-level imagery to identify environmental fall hazards for older adults in outdoor settings.
Falls among older adults are a leading cause of injury, loss of independence, and reduced quality of life. While much attention has focused on indoor fall prevention, outdoor environments present their own complex set of risks, like uneven sidewalks, poor lighting, and inadequate infrastructure, that are harder to identify and address at scale. Dr. Hong’s Fall Riskscape project takes a data-driven approach to this challenge.
About the Project
The Fall Riskscape project aims to develop an AI-based algorithm to identify environmental fall risks for older adults in outdoor, urban settings. Using data from 6,302 emergency dispatch cases in Jeonbuk Province, South Korea, the research team is analyzing over half a million Street View images using deep learning-based computer vision to pinpoint micro-scale streetscape features associated with outdoor fall incidents.
The study employs a zero-inflated Poisson model to examine the statistical relationship between built environment features and fall risk — providing a rigorous, reproducible framework for understanding how the design of streets and public spaces contributes to fall injuries among older adults.
Real-World Impact
The findings are designed to be directly actionable. By identifying which specific streetscape features, such as pavement quality, curb design, or pedestrian infrastructure, are most strongly associated with fall incidents, this research will give urban planners and public health professionals the evidence they need to create safer, age-friendly environments through targeted interventions.
About the HARP Lab
The Healthy Aging and Resilient Places (HARP) Lab at the University of Utah sits at the intersection of aging, public health, and urban design. Led by Dr. Hong, the lab investigates how the built and social environments shape the health and well-being of older adults, with a particular focus on creating communities that support healthy aging and resilience.
Funding
This research was supported by the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) under Grant [HS23C0056] and the research fund of Hanyang University [HY-202400000003326].
Learn more about the Fall Riskscape project and other ongoing work at the
HARP Lab website.
Congratulations to Dr. Hong and the HARP Lab team on this innovative and impactful research!