Health considerations in active travel policies: A policy analysis at the EU level and of four member countries

Abstract

Sustainable urban transport and active travel policies have the potential to positively and negatively impact health. They are critical to building healthy cities since they impact health determinants such as physical activity, air quality, noise, road safety, green spaces, social interaction and access to healthcare services. Such impacts translate into measurable health outcomes inherent to life expectancy as well as mortality and morbidity outcomes related to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, accidents, mental health, and citizen's quality of life. Coherently with the Health in All Policies (HiAP) framework developed by the World Health Organization (WHO), the new version of the European Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) Guidelines features a topic guide linking transport and health. This paper assesses the inclusion of health provisions and methodologies in urban mobility policy and planning documents of four European cities using a multi-level perspective. It considers the adoption of Health Impact Assessment (HIA) tools to integrate health evidence, objectives and measures in the decision-making process. The establishment of a link between active mobility and environmental risk reduction is observed across the countries analyzed. HIAs have been carried out to evaluate the benefits of mobility measures on health only in some cases.