Using cycling infrastructure data made available through AURIN, as well as data from Vicroads, the Victorian Government and the researchers’ own survey data, researchers at Monash University have conducted a study of the role of neighbourhood design in cycling activity during Melbourne’s Covid-19 lockdowns.
Naseri, Delbosc and Kamruzzaman’s (2023) study, ‘The role of neighbourhood design in cycling activity during COVID-19: An exploration of the Melbourne experience’, assesses how various populations changed their cycling activity during lockdown conditions, using this time period as an opportunity to understand how infrastructure, design and demographics contribute to this behaviour.
Problem
Previous research has found close relationships between the built environment and active transport, where supportive environments – such as those with green spaces – affect people’s travel behaviours. In this context, built environments and socio-demographics are two key, interdependent factors. For example, people on low incomes living in high-density environments are less likely to cycle for commute purposes compared to people on higher incomes.
As cycling is an activity which can contribute positively to people’s health, supportive infrastructure and planning is a potential low-cost strategy to improve the overall health and wellbeing of communities. However, in order to develop effective policies and plans it is critical to understand how environmental and social factors may encourage cycling as a leisure or commute activity.
Approach
During the Covid-19 pandemic, many cities implemented restrictions on travel or reasons to leave the home. In Melbourne, these lockdown conditions were in place during 2020 for one of the longest periods in the world, limiting travel to within 5km of people’s homes. As this restriction likely impacted cyclists’ usual behaviours, such as eliminating the need to commute, a study of this period provided a unique chance to explore the effects of local built environments on cycling specifically for leisure or exercise.
For this study, the researchers sought to examine changes in leisure cycling during the 2020 lockdowns and how these related to local built environments, as well as to determine whether these built environment effects varied across demographic groups. This was achieved through a case study of Melbourne which evaluated changes in active travel behaviour across three time periods (pre-Covid, first lockdown, and second lockdown).
To compare recreational cycling behaviour, the study used a survey conducted as part of the ‘C-19 Long Term Transport Impact Study’, as well as data on built environment characteristics from the Victorian Government. These sources were used alongside cycling infrastructure data from Vicroads and from AURIN, which allowed the researchers to calculate the length of cycling infrastructure in each neighbourhood.
“AURIN data played an important role in this research, offering key insights into Melbourne’s cycling infrastructure. It facilitated a comprehensive analysis, connecting neighborhood design, demographics, and cycling behavior during Covid-19 lockdowns, providing valuable input for urban planning and policy decisions,” researcher Mahsa Naseri says.
Among other observations, the study found that even with lockdown conditions, a significant age and gender gap remained in cycling levels: the changed conditions and reduced local traffic did not encourage older people or women to take up cycling at higher rates.
Impact
The persistence of the age and gender gap in cycling levels suggests that, if seeking to attract more groups to cycling, more needs to be done to reflect their needs in planning.
Importantly, the study notes that as vulnerable populations are more likely to depend on their local neighbourhood to provide safe cycling options, acknowledging the interdependency of socio-economic characteristics and local built environments is vital in planning infrastructure that will meet a wider variety of needs.
With accessibility to safe cycling spaces an important contributor to health and well-being, this study provides a valuable resource for planners and policymakers in ensuring built environments respond to the needs of the wider community.