Experiences of safe and healthy walking and cycling in urban areas: The benefits of mobile methods for citizen-adapted urban planning

Abstract

Walking and cycling promotes physical activity and mental health. In many European cities, walking and cycling has increased and is a key part of transport planning. However, many cyclists and pedestrians still perceive themselves as neglected road users, face air pollutants, noise and fear travel injuries. Children are in particular vulnerable. The aim of this study is to present mobile interview methods (“go-/ride-alongs”) for promoting safe and healthy cycling/walking in urban transport planning. We present two studies from Berlin (a) and Leipzig (b), Germany. We conducted go-/ride-alongs with cyclists and pedestrians on (a) their commute home from work and (b) children on their way to school. We accompanied them and investigated how they experience commuting, the environment and discover ad-hoc situative behavior. We discuss our findings and transfer our knowledge gained through the mobile method into transport planning strategies. Safety is most often mentioned by all interviewees. Our studies show a high importance of in-situ/ad-hoc experiences for travel behavior, which can be examined with an interviewer accompanying. Our methods encourage interviewees to describe past experiences, how they shape their behavior or factors supporting/hindering active travel. We consider mobile methods important for exploring mobility and successful when complemented by participatory methods and instruments (e.g., participatory mapping, smartphone-apps, group walks). Therefore, the voice of vulnerable road users can be strengthened. In a next step individual local experiences and community knowledge could be incorporated in urban transport planning to improve active travel.