No abstract

This study summarizes the evidence from quantitative systematic reviews that assessed the association between urban environment attributes and physical activity. It also documents sociopolitical barriers and facilitators involved in urban interventions linked with active living in the ten most populated urban settings of Latin America. The synthesis of evidence indicates that several attributes of urban environments are associated with physical activity, including land-use mix and cycling infrastructure. The documentary analysis indicated that despite the benefits and opportunities provided by the programs and existing infrastructure in the examined cities, an overall concern is the rising inequality in the coverage and distribution of the initiatives in the region. If these programs and initiatives are to achieve a real population level effect that helps to reduce health disparities, they need to examine their social and spatial distribution within the cities so they can reach underserved populations and develop to their full potential.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought a dramatic shift in demand for spaces for safe, physically distanced walking, bicycling, and outdoor commerce. Cities around the world responded by instituting a variety of policies and programs meant to address this shift, such as carving out roadway space for non-car uses, putting pedestrian walk signals on recall, reducing speed limits, and subsidizing bike share schemes. The extraordinarily rapid pace and global scale of these responses—and the public’s reactions to them—suggest that the transport planning, policy, and engineering professions may be at an inflection point with respect to equitable accommodation of non-car transport modes. In this paper we describe an effort to support potential shifts in practice by documenting and cataloging over a thousand COVID-19-related mobility responses into a publicly available database. We provide detailed guidance on using the database, along with preliminary summaries of key variables in the database. We also put forth a research agenda intended to build understanding about the processes that led to these actions, their implications for future efforts to design and implement pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, and ways in which the transport professions might evolve in response to lessons learned during and after the pandemic.

The article presents a general overview on COVID-19 transmission in the context of public transport, particularly applicable to decision making in Latin America. Based on recent findings on COVID-19 transmission and the relative importance of each factor (droplets, fomites, and aerosol routes) in such transmission, we seek to update the discussion on the topic that has generally been based on social distance as the only parameter for reducing the risk of transmission and broadens the vision to integrate ventilation, users' behavior (mask and eye protection use, silence while in the transport system) and travel distance. Recommendations to improve mobility conditions reducing the risk of COVID-19 contagion are provided. COVID-19 y transporte público: una revisión y recomendaciones aplicables a América Latina ResumenEl artículo presenta una revisión de transmisión de COVID-19 en el contexto de transporte público, con aplicación particular para toma de decisiones en América Latina. Con base en los hallazgos recientes sobre transmisión de Covid-19 y la importancia relativa de cada factor (gotículas, fómites y rutas de aerosoles) en dicha transmisión, buscamos actualizar la discusión sobre el tema que generalmente se ha basado en la "distancia social" como parámetro único de reducción de riesgo de transmisión y amplía esta visión para integrar la ventilación, el comportamiento de usuarios (uso de mascarilla, protección ocular, silencio), y la distancia de viaje. Se indican al final recomendaciones para mejorar las condiciones de movilidad en general sin aumentar el riesgo de contagio de Covid-19.

A new methodology for universal accessibility is proposed to identify barriers in public transport accessibility and travel experience. The methodology focuses on the travel experience of people with disabilities and people with temporary restrictions in physical mobility. The methodology not only focuses on aspects of the planning, design, and operation of public transport systems, but also emphasizes sensitive aspects of user experience, considering satisfaction and emotions. The methodology maps tavel experiences using ethnographic methods and provides a graphical depiction of the trip. This helps in identifying key elements for improving accessibility when planning, implementing, and operating public transport systems. The methodology has two parts: (i) traveling along and observing a complete and common trip of people with a permanent or temporary disability or mobility restrictions, and (ii) analyzing and observing the travel experience. The methodology was applied in Bogotá, Santiago de Chile, and Medellín. The results of the methodology allowed us to formulate policy recommendations to improve the transportation systems of these cities in the short, medium, and long term. The methodology is applicable to other transit systems.