Active travel: a climate change mitigation strategy with co-benefits for health

Rissel, Chris

doi:10.1071/nb08043

Cited by 88 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Nevertheless, to have an impact, active transportation requires land-use planning and infrastructure investment that creates pedestrian and cycling-friendly communities. 62,65 Numerous studies now point to the importance of the built environment as a determinant of active transportation. 2,3 Moreover, studies have recently begun to demonstrate the effectiveness of infrastructure investments in changing behaviour, 62 and their cost effectiveness as a public health 66,67 or transport and health 68 intervention.…”

Section: Social Benefitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…6 The co-benefits of investing in active transportation As depicted, investment in active transportation has the potential to produce substantial co-benefits across multiple sectors, 60 including health. 61,62 When benefits across multiple policy areas are considered concurrently, the term co-benefits is used. For example, the City of London's congestion tax not only reduced traffic by 30%, and CO 2 , NO x (refers to NO and NO 2 ) and large particulate emissions by 16-20%, it also increased walking and cycling.…”

Section: Social Benefitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The co-benefits for health of investing in active transportation

Giles-Corti¹,

Foster²,

Shilton³

et al. 2010

NSW Public Health Bull.

173

117

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Section: Social Benefitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Social Benefitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The co-benefits for health of investing in active transportation

Giles-Corti¹,

Foster²,

Shilton³

et al. 2010

NSW Public Health Bull.

173

117

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show abstract

“…[4][5][6] These benefits include a reduced risk of chronic disease by encouraging physical activity, as well as benefits to air quality, traffic congestion and reduced social isolation as a result of encouraging alternative forms of transport to driving. 6 The development of compact walkable environments is now actively being encouraged by multiple sectors (health, transport and land use planning), a policy direction recommended internationally by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 7 as well as in Australia in both the federal 8,9 and state [10][11][12] levels.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing a research and practice tool to measure walkability: a demonstration project

Giles-Corti

Macaulay

Middleton

et al. 2014

Health Prom J of Aust

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Issue addressed: Growing evidence shows that higher-density, mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly neighbourhoods encourage active transport, including transport-related walking. Despite widespread recognition of the benefits of creating more walkable neighbourhoods, there remains a gap between the rhetoric of the need for walkability and the creation of walkable neighbourhoods. Moreover, there is little objective data to benchmark the walkability of neighbourhoods within and between Australian cities in order to monitor planning and design intervention progress and to assess built environment and urban policy interventions required to achieve increased walkability. This paper describes a demonstration project that aimed to develop, trial and validate a 'Walkability Index Tool' that could be used by policy makers and practitioners to assess the walkability of local areas; or by researchers to access geospatial data assessing walkability. The overall aim of the project was to develop an automated geospatial tool capable of creating walkability indices for neighbourhoods at user-specified scales. Methods: The tool is based on open-source software architecture, within the Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN) framework, and incorporates key sub-component spatial measures of walkability (street connectivity, density and land use mix). Results: Using state-based data, we demonstrated it was possible to create an automated walkability index. However, due to the lack of availability of consistent of national data measuring land use mix, at this stage it has not been possible to create a national walkability measure. The next stage of the project is to increase useability of the tool within the AURIN portal and to explore options for alternative spatial data sources that will enable the development of a valid national walkability index. Conclusion: AURIN's open-source Walkability Index Tool is a first step in demonstrating the potential benefit of a tool that could measure walkability across Australia. It also demonstrates the value of making accurate spatial data available for research purposes. So what?There remains a gap between urban policy and practice, in terms of creating walkable neighbourhoods. When fully implemented, AURIN's walkability tool could be used to benchmark Australian cities against which planning and urban design decisions could be assessed to monitor progress towards achieving policy goals. Making cleaned data readily available for research purposes through a common portal could also save time and financial resources.

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“…In contrast, 'active transport' (walking and cycling) is seen to be associated with a wide range of health benefits (Haskell et al 2009;Johan de Hartog et al 2010), and reduced greenhouse gas/air pollution emissions (Dennekamp and Carey 2010;Lindsay et al 2011;Rissel 2009). However, despite the acknowledged benefits of active transport, there has been a 24 percent decline in the number of trips made on foot (292 to 221 trips per person per year 1995/97 to 2008; (Department for Transport 2009), and a decline in the number of primary and secondary school children walking to school (53 and 42% in 1995/97 versus 48% and 40% in 2008) for primary and secondary school children respectively) (Department for Transport 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards an interdisciplinary science of transport and health: a case study on school travel

Hodgson¹,

Namdeo²,

Araujo‐Soares³

et al. 2012

Journal of Transport Geography

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Background and Aim: This paper was conceptualised and informed by discussions at the 2nd Workshop in a UKTRC funded series on 'Social Impacts and Equity in Transport'.Presentations made by a range of stakeholders as well as a specially commissioned play stimulated our thoughts on how to encourage better interaction between health and transport researchers. We chose school travel as a case study as it exemplifies two key aspects of the wider transport and health debates; (i) the increasing trend towards reliance on car travel, described here in the context of sedentary lifestyles, traffic congestion, pollution, and parental attitudes, and (ii) school travel occurs at a critical life-stage during which behaviour patterns are formed that are likely to be influential in later life, thus making it an important target point for interventions.Methods: We present evidence from four distinct, but complementary, theoretical perspectives: transport, exposure, behaviour and sustainability. We draw common lessons and identify challenges using a range of conceptual frameworks: integrated psychological model of transport choices, Dahlgren and Whitehead's 'layers of influence' model, Hosking et al's 'pathways from transport to health', and Hanlon et al's integral theory. We demonstrate the benefits and challenges of holistic interaction and collaboration between disciplines to better understand the key issues and develop policy interventions that are meaningful and effective. Results and conclusions:None of the pre-existing conceptual models were fully able to encompass the societal and individual level influences on school travel. However, we present an interim model for further discussion and debate. Key words:Transport, health, sustainability, behaviour change, transport choice, health behaviour Word count:7935 Highlights  Transport and health are interlinked on many levels  School travel contributes to congestion and pollution, and impacts on health  It also represents a critical life stage during which life-long behaviours are set  School travel provides a valuable case study to explore numerous converging agendas  There remain challenges to holistically considering this multi-dimensional issue

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Active travel: a climate change mitigation strategy with co-benefits for health

Cited by 88 publications

References 9 publications

The co-benefits for health of investing in active transportation

The co-benefits for health of investing in active transportation

Developing a research and practice tool to measure walkability: a demonstration project

Towards an interdisciplinary science of transport and health: a case study on school travel

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