Professor Tim Jones

Recognising the provision of public greenspace in urban areas as a key tool to supporting health and wellbeing, the UK government has committed to ensuring that, by 2043, all citizens can reach greenspace within 15 minutes from their homes. However, it is increasingly acknowledged that simply providing access to greenspace may not be enough to ensure that positive benefits are realised. Characteristics including their accessibility, size, aesthetics, features, condition and safety can all distinguish between greenspaces that encourage visitation and those that are uninviting. This paper reports a neighbourhood-level study of the residential development of Kingsmere, which forms a significant urban extension to Bicester, England, and was developed as part of the government-funded ‘Healthy New Town’ programme. A cross-sectional survey, including follow-up interviews, was conducted to investigate residents’ use of different types of greenspace, satisfaction, and the perceived impact on personal health and wellbeing. Findings reveal that the provision of a variety of greenspaces within a 15-20-minute walk of homes has been effective in terms of use and satisfaction but that attention to access within sites, perceived safety, cleanliness and maintenance are important factors that could encourage greater use and enhance user satisfaction.

Cycling is widely regarded as a healthy and sustainable transport option in urban environments. However, there is an emergent need to understand how cycling in countries like Brazil, can be encouraged and supported, particularly among different sections of the population. Thus, this study investigates social-psychological antecedents of cycling within the Brazilian context using a large-scale dataset to verify the appropriateness of a model based on the expanded model of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (e-TPB). In-person interviews were conducted with people living in three large Brazilian cities – Brasília (n=1,107), Florianópolis (n=1,084), and Porto Alegre (n=1,105) using a questionnaire including nine items from the e-TPB to tap attitudes, social norms, habits, perceived behavioural control, intention, and cycling behaviour. Multigroup analysis verified the model fit and invariance in structural weights by gender. Age and gender were revealed to be the only sociodemographic variables with significant influence on the components’ mean scores, with gender exhibiting the strongest influence. We concluded that the e-TPB allows us to explain cycling behaviour among this sample of the Brazilian population and that it is particularly sensitive to (a) other people's influence (b) personal habit (c) perceived behavioural control (d) belief in the ability to change one’s behaviour. Furthermore, especially women tend to cycle less and be less influenced by the social-psychological aspects to encourage this type of participation in society. 

Aims. This study aimed to test the acceptability, perceptions and short-term impacts of a wayfinding intervention to increase active travel among primary school children. Methods.  This study used a non-randomised, controlled, before and after design in four intervention and two control schools within Oxfordshire. The intervention was designed with input from parents and students and informed by a COM-B behavioural analysis. It included implementing interactive footpath markings and route features, along walking and cycling routes, and designating car parking locations near school to facilitate walking the last part of the journey. A mixed-methods approach investigated school travel mode, frequency of active school travel, and knowledge and perceptions of the wayfinding routes. The primary outcome, change in proportion of children who use active school travel after implementation, was captured by online parent survey. Results. Of 181 survey respondents, active school travel increased from 76% pre-intervention
to 81% post-intervention across intervention school respondents and decreased from 71% to 70% among control school respondents. There was no significant difference between intervention and control schools. Accounting for distance to school and active travel at baseline, parents from intervention schools were significantly more likely to report active travel post-intervention compared to those from control schools (OR 2.69 p=0.080). Parents, staff and pupils reported the wayfinding intervention had enhanced their existing experience of active school travel, though road safety concerns limited independent use by primary school children. Conclusions.  Wayfinding routes have potential to increase rates, and enhance enjoyment of, active school travel and active travel but are likely to be insufficient alone to create significant modal shift and may have greater impact if implemented alongside other interventions which encourage active travel. As a place-based intervention they may have additional benefits by encouraging activity along the routes outside of school travel.

Active travel (“walking and cycling”) is promoted because of its benefits to environmental sustainability and public health and wellbeing. Neighbourhood design, including provision of infrastructure for walking and cycling, can increase social cohesion and can positively affect sense of belonging and pride in the community. This paper investigates the experience of residents living in a suburb of the “Cycling City” of Oxford, UK, who endeavoured to walk and cycle for local journeys. We generated in-depth qualitative insights into regular active travel activity, first through biographical interviews, followed by micro-ethnographic mobile methods with members of the local community to observe and understand how everyday activities on foot or by cycle are performed and experienced. Jensen’s “Staging Mobilities” framework is used to reveal how active travel is “staged from above” and how it is choreographed within the neighbourhood, “from below”. By adopting this framework, we demonstrate how moving beyond the collection of “hard” data of movements between origins and destinations, to a more situated approach generating tacit knowledge from the ground up, can provide a more informed understanding of the broader social and cultural conditions under which active travel operates. This can help policy makers develop both physical and social infrastructures to support active travel so that it may contribute more effectively to increasing community wellbeing as well as contributing to sustainable development goals.

Brazilian cities are typically unequal and car-dominated, where poorer communities mainly rely on public transport, walking and cycling. Yet, understanding the experience of using these modes within specific contexts remains limited. In this paper we illustrate how the ‘New Mobilities Paradigm’ can contribute to the ‘Accessibility Turn’ in urban research. Focusing on the low-income 'Cruzeiro-Tronco' neighbourhood in Porto Alegre, we aim to incorporate considerations of equity and social inclusion by applying Jensen’s 'Staging Mobilities' framework to examine how mobility is ‘staged from above’ by institutions and ‘staged from below’ by residents. We used biographical interviews and mobile methods to provide in-depth accounts of the lived experience of walking and cycling, showing how residents navigate the spaces and negotiate their mobility strategies in places deemed accessible by conventional 'objective' metrics. By applying Jensen’s framework as part of a mixed-methods research approach we hope to provide a more informative and context-specific account of the accessibility landscape, constructing knowledge with participants about the meanings of accessibility to support more inclusive policies and designs.

This introduction to the Special Issue on Electric Micromobility Futures highlights the phenomenal growth of availability and use of small vehicles with electrical power assistance such as electric scooters and electric bikes. It highlights the need consider the role of electric micromobility (‘e-micromobility’) in transport planning and also research and monitoring. It considers whether e-micromobility constitutes active travel and highlights the potential benefits to health and wellbeing. The nine papers included in the special issue are summarised. Each of these papers has a thematic focus and pay attention to broader themes of transport mode substitution, health and wellbeing, social inclusion, governance, and reflect on the role of e-micromobility as part of sustainable transport futures.

This paper draws on data from a large UK study that aimed to understand cycling among the older population and how this affected independence, health and wellbeing. Part of the study involved an ‘e-bike trial’ where participants aged 50 and over, who were returning to cycling after a hiatus, were loaned an e-bike for an eight-week trial period. Pre-trial and post-trial cognitive tests of trial participants, reported previously Leyland et al. (2019), demonstrated how e-bikes, provide positive benefits to cognitive function and wellbeing. The paper builds on these findings, drawing specifically on the qualitative component, predominantly biographical interviews, written and visual material provided in rider diaries and a focus group discussion, to understand the reasons for this positive impact.

The findings demonstrate how power assistance can provide riders with the opportunity to extend the distance and types of area they are willing to cycle from their homes (their ‘ranging behaviour’) and how this can promote health and wellbeing. Our evidence suggests that e-bikes have the potential to support cycling for leisure as well as everyday travel and that consideration should be given to the positive effects of e-cycling on mental wellbeing in addition to physical activity. This is particularly pertinent in the context of an ageing society, the push towards zero-emission cities and the need to ensure socially inclusive mobility, particularly in the context of the Covid-19 global pandemic.

It has been demonstrated that, on their own, both exercise and stimulation from the environment can improve cognitive function and well-being in older adults. The combined effect of exercising in the outdoor environment on psychological function is less well studied. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effect of an outdoor cycling intervention on cognitive function and mental health and well-being in older adults. A total of 100 older adults took part in the study (aged 50–83), 26 of which were non-cycling controls, 36 were conventional pedal cyclists and 38 were participants using an e-bike (a bike fitted with an electric motor to provide assistance with pedaling), as part of a larger project (www.cycleboom.org). Participants took part in the study for an eight-week period, with cycling participants required to cycle at least three times a week for thirty minutes in duration for each cycle ride. Cognitive function and well-being were measured before and after the intervention period. For executive function, namely inhibition (the Stroop task) and updating (Letter Updating Task), both cycling groups improved in accuracy after the intervention compared to non-cycling control participants. E-bike participants also improved in processing speed (reaction times in go trials of the Stop-It task) after the intervention compared to non-cycling control participants. Finally, e-bike participants improved in their mental health score after the intervention compared to non-cycling controls as measured by the SF-36. This suggests that there may be an impact of exercising in the environment on executive function and mental health. Importantly, we showed a similar (sometimes larger) effect for the e-bike group compared to the pedal cyclists. This suggests that it is not just the physical activity component of cycling that is having an influence. Both pedal cycles and e-bikes can enable increased physical activity and engagement with the outdoor environment with e-bikes potentially providing greater benefits.

This paper explores how people aged 50 and over, who were returning to cycling as part of an eight-week health and wellbeing trial, created their own cycling microadventures. Applying a stage model of the process of adventure to qualitative data generated from personal diaries and focus groups, we examine how older people anticipated and prepared for their microadventures, the challenges and discoveries they experienced, the benefits they gained and how electrically assisted ‘e-bikes’ can provide further opportunities for adventure. We conclude that cycles are a mode uniquely placed to facilitate microadventures and that e-bikes, in particular, offer further potential to enable older people to (re-) connect with place and other people. But, while this type of activity can provide benefits in terms of health and wellbeing, we argue that more supportive physical and social infrastructure is required to provide opportunities for more people to undertake microadventures close to their homes.

Introduction: The psychological predictors of behaviour change may differ from the predictors of engaging in behaviour, and there is limited evidence on the associations between psychological constructs and changes in physical activity behaviours such as walking and cycling. This study of observational cohort data examined whether an extended version of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (eTPB) predicted change in walking and cycling for transport and recreation using a population-based sample of adults from three UK municipalities. Methods: We used baseline, 1-year and 2-year follow-up data from the XXXX study. Nine psychological constructs from the eTPB as well as weekly time spent (i) walking and (ii) cycling, each (i) for transport and (ii) for recreation, were self-reported at all time points. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine associations between baseline eTPB constructs and (i) increases and (ii) decreases in the four behavioural outcomes, adjusted for socio-demographic characteristics. Results: 1796 and 1465 participants provided 1- and 2-year follow-up data. All eTPB constructs except subjective norms were associated with changes in at least one of the four outcomes, but these amounted to relatively few significant associations among the large number tested. In general, eTPB constructs were more often associated with increases than with decreases in time spent walking and cycling. Conclusions: This is one of the first known studies to examine psychological predictors of change in walking and cycling for transport and recreation using an extended TPB. Future interventions to promote walking and cycling through individually delivered approaches might consider fostering the development of positive attitudes, perceived behavioural control, intentions, and habits for these behaviours.

Findings revealed that the motive for purchasing e-bikes was often to allow maintenance of cycling against a backdrop of changing individual or household circumstances. E-bikes also provided new opportunities for people who would not otherwise consider conventional cycling. Perceptions of travel behaviour change revealed that e-biking was replacing conventional cycling but was also replacing journeys that would have been made by car. There was also a perception that e-biking has increased, or at least allowed participants to maintain, some form of physical activity and had benefitted personal wellbeing. Technological, social and environmental barriers to e-biking were identified. These included weight of bicycle, battery life, purchase price, social stigma and limitations of cycle infrastructure provision.

Additional research is necessary to quantify actual levels of mode substitution and new

journey generation among new e-bike owners and the impact of e-biking on promoting

physical health and mental wellbeing.

Background.

Few studies have evaluated the effects of infrastructural improvements to promote walking and cycling. Even fewer have explored how the context and mechanisms of such interventions may interact to produce their outcomes.

Methods.

This mixed-method analysis forms part of the UK iConnect study, which aims to evaluate new walking and cycling routes at three sites — Cardiff, Kenilworth and Southampton. Applying a complementary follow-up approach, we first identified differences in awareness and patterns of use of the infrastructure in survey data from a cohort of adult residents at baseline in spring 2010 (n = 3516) and again one (n = 1849) and two (n = 1510) years later following completion of the infrastructural projects (Analysis 1). We subsequently analysed data from 17 semi-structured interviews with key informants to understand how the new schemes might influence walking and cycling (Analysis 2a). In parallel, we analysed cohort survey data on environmental perceptions (Analysis 2b). We integrated these two datasets to interpret differences across the sites consistent with a theoretical framework that hypothesised that the schemes would improve connectivity and the social environment.

Results.

After two years, 52% of Cardiff respondents reported using the infrastructure compared with 37% in Kenilworth and 22% in Southampton. Patterns of use did not vary substantially between sites. 17% reported using the new infrastructure for transport, compared with 39% for recreation. Environmental perceptions at baseline were generally unfavourable, with the greatest improvements in Cardiff. Qualitative data revealed that all schemes had a recreational focus to varying extents, that the visibility of schemes to local people might be an important mechanism driving use and that the scale and design of the schemes and the contrast they presented with existing infrastructure may have influenced their use.

Conclusions.

The dominance of recreational uses may have reflected the specific local goals of some of the projects and the discontinuity of the new infrastructure from a satisfactory network of feeder routes. Greater use in Cardiff may have been driven by the mechanisms of greater visibility and superior design features within the context of an existing environment that was conducive neither to walking or cycling nor to car travel.

Walking is widely recognised as good for health and for the environment, yet many short journeys in urban areas continue to be undertaken by car. This paper draws on research from a large multimethod  project to analyse the factors that limit walking for everyday travel. It is argued that although most people see walking in a positive light, and almost everyone walks on some occasions, as an activity it remains barely visible within society, and is rarely recognised in the planning of urban infrastructure. Our research shows that under current urban conditions constraints imposed by family and life-style factors, perceptions of safety and convenience, and expectations about what means of everyday travel are normal severely restrict levels of walking for many people. We argue that while low levels of walking for particular purposes, especially leisure and health, are common and expected, walking is rarely seen as a visible or viable form of everyday transport. To step outside of these norms of expectation by walking more is constructed as unusual behaviour, and the fact that a substantial amount of walking does take place on urban streets is barely acknowledged. We argue that there is need to recognise fully the walking that exists, and to plan more effectively to accommodate pedestrians so that walking is perceived as an expected way of moving around urban areas.

There remains only limited understanding of perceptions of travel behaviour in relation to short journeys in urban areas, and in particular, the perceived role that walking and cycling for personal travel can realistically play in contemporary society. This paper reveals discourses surrounding the practice, performance, identity, conflicts and visions relating to walking and cycling in English cities. These were derived from a large-scale study that utilized a comprehensive mixed-method approach using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Q Methodology was used as an additional tool to investigate subjectivities on walking and cycling in the city in a structured interpretable format and it is this approach that is the focus of this paper. The article concludes with a discussion on the implications of these discourses for policy makers interested in encouraging a shift from car use to walking and cycling for short journeys in urban areas.

Increased walking and cycling for short journeys in urban areas has many obvious advantages yet so far gains from the promotion of more sustainable travel of this type are mostly small. This paper reports on a large research project which uses a mixed method approach to explore attitudes to and perceptions of walking and cycling, and which examines the process of household decision-making for everyday travel and the constraints that this imposes. Using survey, interview and ethnographic data it is argued that many people hold ambiguous and sometimes contradictory views of walking and cycling as effective means of everyday travel, that what they do rarely matches precisely what they believe, and that the complexity and contingency associated with everyday travel for many households is a major barrier to the use of more sustainable travel modes. It is suggested that better understanding of these processes could help to inform both future transport policy and the promotion of walking and cycling for short trips in urban areas.