TY - JOUR
T1 - Shoe leather epidemiology
T2 - active travel and transport infrastructure in the urban landscape
AU - Ogilvie, David
AU - Mitchell, Richard
AU - Mutrie, Nanette
AU - Petticrew, Mark
AU - Platt, Stephen
PY - 2010/5/11
Y1 - 2010/5/11
N2 - Building new transport infrastructure could help to promote changes in patterns of mobility, physical activity, and other determinants of population health such as economic development. However, local residents may not share planners' goals or assumptions about the benefits of such interventions. A particularly contentious example
is the construction of major roads close to deprived residential areas. We report the qualitative findings of the baseline phase of a longitudinal mixed-method study of a new urban section of the M74 motorway in Glasgow, Scotland, that aims to combine quantitative epidemiological and spatial data with qualitative interview data from local residents. We interviewed 12 residents purposively sampled from a larger study cohort of 1322 to include men and
women, different age groups, and people with and without cars, all living within 400 metres of the proposed route of
the new motorway. We elicited their views and experiences of the local urban environment and the likely impact of the
new motorway using a topic guide based on seven key environmental constructs (aesthetics, green space,
convenience of routes, access to amenities, traffic, road danger and personal danger) reflecting an overall ecological
model of walking and cycling. Traffic was widely perceived to be heavy despite a low local level of car ownership. Few people cycled, and cycling on the roads was widely perceived to be dangerous for both adults and children. Views about the likely impacts of the new motorway on traffic congestion, pollution and the pleasantness of the local environment were polarised. A new motorway has potential to cause inequitable psychological or physical severance of routes to local amenities, and people may not necessarily use local walking routes or destinations such as parks and shops if these are considered undesirable, unsafe or 'not for us'. Public transport may have the potential to promote or discourage active travel in
different socioeconomic contexts. Altering the urban landscape may influence walking and cycling in ways that vary between individuals, may be inequitable, and may not be predictable from quantitative data alone. A more applied ecological behavioural model may be required to capture these effects.
AB - Building new transport infrastructure could help to promote changes in patterns of mobility, physical activity, and other determinants of population health such as economic development. However, local residents may not share planners' goals or assumptions about the benefits of such interventions. A particularly contentious example
is the construction of major roads close to deprived residential areas. We report the qualitative findings of the baseline phase of a longitudinal mixed-method study of a new urban section of the M74 motorway in Glasgow, Scotland, that aims to combine quantitative epidemiological and spatial data with qualitative interview data from local residents. We interviewed 12 residents purposively sampled from a larger study cohort of 1322 to include men and
women, different age groups, and people with and without cars, all living within 400 metres of the proposed route of
the new motorway. We elicited their views and experiences of the local urban environment and the likely impact of the
new motorway using a topic guide based on seven key environmental constructs (aesthetics, green space,
convenience of routes, access to amenities, traffic, road danger and personal danger) reflecting an overall ecological
model of walking and cycling. Traffic was widely perceived to be heavy despite a low local level of car ownership. Few people cycled, and cycling on the roads was widely perceived to be dangerous for both adults and children. Views about the likely impacts of the new motorway on traffic congestion, pollution and the pleasantness of the local environment were polarised. A new motorway has potential to cause inequitable psychological or physical severance of routes to local amenities, and people may not necessarily use local walking routes or destinations such as parks and shops if these are considered undesirable, unsafe or 'not for us'. Public transport may have the potential to promote or discourage active travel in
different socioeconomic contexts. Altering the urban landscape may influence walking and cycling in ways that vary between individuals, may be inequitable, and may not be predictable from quantitative data alone. A more applied ecological behavioural model may be required to capture these effects.
KW - epidemiology
KW - transport
KW - urban landscape
KW - mobility
KW - physical activity
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77951959026&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.ijbnpa.org/content/7/1/43
U2 - 10.1186/1479-5868-7-43
DO - 10.1186/1479-5868-7-43
M3 - Article
C2 - 20459803
SN - 1479-5868
VL - 7
JO - International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity
JF - International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity
IS - 1
M1 - 43
ER -