Work

Active travel and the built environment: A life-course perspective

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Active travel has many health, environmental, economic, and social benefits, yet it is not clear how life events and factors from the built environment influence active travel over time. To address this gap and provide causal and dynamic evidence, this study used a 5-year longitudinal dataset from the Netherlands Mobility Panel and applied a Dynamic Bayesian Network approach to explore the temporal relationships between life events, built environment factors and active travel frequency, including frequency of conventional bike, e-bike, and walking. Results show that life events play a much more important role in influencing active travel frequency than the built environment factors. In addition, owning an e-bike has the greatest impact on cycling frequency, impeding conventional bike use and increasing e-bike use. Furthermore, childbirth has different temporal effects on the frequency of all three types of active travel. Moreover, workplace change negatively impacts e-bike use both concurrently and over time. These findings provide empirical evidence for urban planning and policymaking to promote active travel.

Source: Journal of Transport Geography

DOI: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2025.104426

Authors: Ting Zhou, Tao Feng, Astrid Kemperman

Institutions: Eindhoven University of Technology, Hiroshima University

Language: English

Topic: Urban Transport and Accessibility

Subfield: Transportation

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Sustainable cities and communities, Good health and well-being

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $2,990