https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(12)60646-1.pdf

Global physical activity levels: surveillance progress, pitfalls, and prospects

https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(12)60735-1.pdf

Correlates of physical activity: why are some people physically active and others not?

Obesity relationships with community design, physical activity, and time spent in cars

http://www.cycle-helmets.com/irresistible.pdf

Making Cycling Irresistible: Lessons from The Netherlands, Denmark and Germany

This article reviews the literature on characteristics, causes, and costs of alternative development patterns. In doing so it debunks arguments by Gordon and Richardson in favor of Los Angeles-style sprawl. Sprawl is not suburbanization generally, but rather forms of suburban development that lack accessibility and open space. Sprawl is not a natural response to market forces, but a product of subsidies and other market imperfections. The costs of sprawl are borne by all of us, not just those creating it, and include inflated public spending, loss of resource lands, and a waning sense of community. The only realistic cure for sprawl is active planning of the sort practiced almost everywhere except the United States (and beginning to appear here out of necessity).

Is Los Angeles-Style Sprawl Desirable?

https://nacto.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Infrastructure-Programs-and-Policies-to-Increase-Bicycling-An-International-Review.pdf

Infrastructure, programs, and policies to increase bicycling: An international review

This paper reviews trends in cycling levels, safety, and policies in Canada and the USA over the past two decades. We analyze aggregate data for the two countries as well as city-specific case study data for nine large cities (Chicago, Minneapolis, Montreal, New York, Portland, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver, and Washington). Cycling levels have increased in both the USA and Canada, while cyclist fatalities have fallen. There is much spatial variation and socioeconomic inequality in cycling rates. The bike share of work commuters is more than twice as high in Canada as in the USA, and is higher in the western parts of both countries. Cycling is concentrated in central cities, especially near universities and in gentrified neighborhoods near the city center. Almost all the growth in cycling in the USA has been among men between 25-64 years old, while cycling rates have remained steady among women and fallen sharply for children. Cycling rates have risen much faster in the nine case study cities than in their countries as a whole, at least doubling in all the cities since 1990. They have implemented a wide range of infrastructure and programs to promote cycling and increase cycling safety: expanded and improved bike lanes and paths, traffic calming, parking, bike-transit integration, bike sharing, training programs, and promotional events. We describe the specific accomplishments of the nine case study cities, focusing on each city's innovations and lessons for other cities trying to increase cycling. Portland's comprehensive package of cycling policies has succeeded in raising cycling levels 6-fold and provides an example that other North American cities can follow.

Bicycling renaissance in North America? An update and re-appraisal of cycling trends and policies

Purpose: This study was designed to examine the relationship between active transportation (defined as the percentage of trips taken by walking, bicycling, and public transit) and obesity rates (BMI ≥ 30 kg · m−2) in different countries. Methods: National surveys of travel behavior and health indicators in Europe, North America, and Australia were used in this study; the surveys were conducted in 1994 to 2006. In some cases raw data were obtained from national or federal agencies and then analyzed, and in other cases summary data were obtained from published reports. Results: Countries with the highest levels of active transportation generally had the lowest obesity rates. Europeans walked more than United States residents (382 versus 140 km per person per year) and bicycled more (188 versus 40 km per person per year) in 2000. Discussion: Walking and bicycling are far more common in European countries than in the United States, Australia, and Canada. Active transportation is inversely related to obesity in these countries. Although the results do not prove causality, they suggest that active transportation could be one of the factors that explain international differences in obesity rates.

/pdf/walking-cycling-and-obesity-rates-in-europe-north-america-4ufetys603.pdf

Walking, Cycling, and Obesity Rates in Europe, North America, and Australia

This article uses the 1995 NPTS (Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey) to examine the most important socioeconomic variations in urban travel behavior. The 1995 NPTS is the most recent and most comprehensive source of information on local travel in the U.S.; moreover, it is the only survey that includes both work and non-work trips. This is the third in a series of articles in this publication over the past two decades using the NPTS to analyze the socioeconomic characteristics of urban travelers.

/pdf/socioeconomics-of-urban-travel-evidence-from-the-2001-nhts-4ztzv09lwu.pdf

John Pucher

Papers

Making Cycling Irresistible: Lessons from The Netherlands, Denmark and Germany

Infrastructure, programs, and policies to increase bicycling: An international review

Bicycling renaissance in North America? An update and re-appraisal of cycling trends and policies

Walking, Cycling, and Obesity Rates in Europe, North America, and Australia

Socioeconomics of urban travel. Evidence from the 2001 NHTS.