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Abstract

New transport infrastructure may help promote active/non-motorised travel (walking and cycling). Walking and cycling have advantages over the use of other transport modes, both for the user and society. It could lead to reduction in air pollution, and traffic jams and walking and cycling provide sufficient levels of physical activity to improve public health and well-being.

However, not all environments may be equally supportive for walking and cycling. While cross-sectional studies show that characteristics of the built environment are associated with differences in travel behaviour, only few intervention studies exist on this topic. This limits the possibility to determine a causal effect of the built environment on travel behaviour.

This presentation will focus on findings from a longitudinal natural experiment cohort study, the ‘commuting and health in Cambridge study’. This study investigates the effect of a new transport infrastructure intervention: a guideway for special guided busses and a path for walking and cycling entirely separated from motorised traffic. I will present unpublished results on the effect of this intervention on its’ use and on changes in travel behaviour – with a specific focus on walking and cycling.

Speaker

Dr Eva Heinen is an investigator scientist at Cedar, MRC epidemiology, University of Cambridge (UK) and a researcher at Delft University of Technology (the Netherlands). Prior she was an assistant professor of infrastructure planning and mobility at the Department of Spatial Planning & Environment at the University of Groningen. She received her PhD on the topic Bicycle commuting in 2011 from Delft University of Technology and continued working there, until her move to Groningen. Before her academic career, she worked at the former Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment. Dr. Heinen has an interested in individual travel behaviour change. The focus on her current and future research is on active travel/non-motorized transport. She prefers to conduct research on individual behaviour and believes in the necessity to prove causal relations. Her research is empirical driven and combines different fields.

Please contact Dr Eva Heinen for having a copy of her presentation.