Thesis abstract:

Active transport, despite having an established positive impact on health and well-being, is often subject to being the most vulnerable mode of transport. Pedestrians, bicyclists, and other active travellers typically encounter the highest exposures to air and noise pollution, crash risks, harsh outdoor weather, uneven topography and so on. In addition, active travel initiatives, whether in the form of social and behavioural interventions or infrastructure development, essentially create a divide in the population at different scales by making the target group privileged and the non-target group deprived. Although transport equity researchers tend to assess the benefits and costs of active travel primarily from an accessibility point-of-view and secondly from a health perspective, other crucial elements such as affordability or safety may notably contribute towards the comprehensive understanding of active transport equity. Besides, as active travel is solely a human-powered means of transport, people’s subjective perceptions towards the provision of existing and proposed active transport facilities have a critical role in scrutinising the (in)efficacy of any intervention. This research advances the vision of how active travel could become more equitable to all, with the principal objectives of exploring the key components and distribution principles of active transport equity, deriving a more inclusive equity assessment framework, and finally developing a spatial decision-support-system to examine the status of active transport equity in local contexts. In terms of methodology, the research will rely on a systematic literature review, structural equation modelling, and advanced GIS to attain the research objectives. The main research contribution is to deepen the understanding of active transport equity and its comprehensive measurement- so that resources and initiatives towards active, healthy living in an urban set-up could be better allocated by the authorities and have a better chance to be embraced by the public.