A new study revealed the biggest factor in whether people bike or walk in cities around the world.
According to an article from the University of California, Los Angeles, researchers from UCLA and Google studied travel data from 11,500 cities across 121 countries to help understand how people travel and why they choose the means that they do.
What they found was that when infrastructure was designed with the safety of cyclists and pedestrians in mind, people were significantly more likely to use those means instead of driving.
The researchers touted Copenhagen, Denmark, as a prime example of a city where conscious decisions to prioritize pedestrians and cyclists were made in its current design.
In fact, if every city in the study expanded its bike lane infrastructure and redesigned streets in a manner similar to Copenhagen's infrastructure, walking and biking rates would increase by 412 billion miles each year, reduce carbon pollution by an estimated 6% annually, and provide an estimated $435 billion in health benefits, according to the researchers.
"The way that cities design their streets fundamentally shapes how people get around, especially for short trips. Are there sidewalks? Bike lanes? How wide are the traffic lanes?" Adam Millard-Ball, director of UCLA's Institute of Transportation Studies, said. "In this study, we show that these seemingly local planning choices, made in thousands of cities around the world, can collectively drive major shifts in global climate outcomes."
The study is the largest infrastructure analysis ever undertaken, accounting for 41% of the world's urban population and studying 14 times more cities than the next-largest study. It included cities in often underrepresented regions and came to unique conclusions as a result. For example, while Copenhagen and Amsterdam have long been touted for their walkability, the researchers found other cities that had taken different approaches and found similar success.
Nairobi, Kenya, for example, included informal traders in their design process and commits 20% of transportation budget resources to pedestrian infrastructure. Osaka, Japan, uses narrow streets and slow-moving traffic to help keep pedestrians and cyclists safe.
Interestingly, they found that weather played little role in whether a city had high levels of pedestrians; cold-weather cities like Montreal and Copenhagen, and hot, humid climates like Nairobi and Kolkata, India, had many pedestrians and cyclists despite their less-than-ideal weather conditions.
Walkability remains a massive issue in many parts of the world, but it is the most frequent problem in the United States. Because most American cities are designed with cars in mind, citizens are forced to use cars over other means of transit to get to work or the store or almost anywhere they're trying to go. Big cities like Los Angeles and smaller ones like Lancaster, Pennsylvania, don't put thought or effort into making their cities accessible to pedestrians, leading to frustration for anyone trying to drive less.
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Superior quality 💎 Ultimately, this study shows us that while there are many ways to improve walkability, safety will make people more likely to try.
"The lesson is clear: You don't need to replicate Copenhagen to make your city walkable and bike-friendly," Millard-Ball said.
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