Designing healthy mobility in cities: how urban planning can promote walking and cycling

Abstract

Mobility is aprerequisite for satisfying essential human needs. Work, education, social participation: all these activities generate regular journeys. Particularly in cities, however, the "side effects" of mobility such as traffic jams, traffic accidents, air pollution, noise and the resulting health effects are also evident.The planning of settlement structures, the necessary infrastructures, and the design of urban spaces are tasks of urban planning. Urban planning can have adecisive influence on the means of transport people choose, the distances they travel, and the environmental and health effects associated with these choices.This article examines how urban planning can promote alternatives to motorized individual travel. It focuses in particular on active mobility, such as cycling and walking. The paper begins by presenting the fundamental effects of everyday mobility and the resulting traffic on health. It then gives an overview of the potential for promoting active mobility in Germany and how urban planning and the factors it regulates, such as settlement density or mix of uses, influence mobility decisions. An overview of current initiatives and an in-depth presentation of planning strategies in the cities of Barcelona and Bogotá will be used to show which instruments and measures are being used.The article emphasizes that urban planning and the built environment it creates can promote walking and cycling. The examples show, however, that promising initiatives are not realised through spatial planning and the creation of infrastructure alone. Rather, they are cross-sectoral measures aimed at changing the mobility culture in cities.