This thesis adds to our understanding of the importance of environment on people’s experience of walking and active travel

Sarah Spooner
School of History, University of East Anglia

This volume is the final publication of Andersson’s PhD with the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences, and draws together the findings from four papers, all of which are included here along with a clear discussion of the key methodologies and findings. This is an important piece of research on walking, which investigates the importance of the physical environment on pedestrians who commute on foot to their place of work or study. Although there is growing interest in the impact of the environment on walking, few previous studies have attempted to factor in the experience of walking a whole route, which might include passing through a number of different environments between the starting point and destination. This study attempts to do that and identifies a number of key factors which affect people’s experience of walking as a form of commuting.

My own walking commute in the UK used to take me through a variety of urban and suburban streets, from the city centre through the suburbs to the university campus on the edge of the city. There were busy roads to cross, pedestrian crossings, shared cycle paths, roads edged with mature trees, and historic and modern buildings. My route passed through public parks, churches and schools with other pedestrians and cyclists of all ages and backgrounds. Of course, everywhere on my walking commute there were cars and other vehicles – cars parked on the road and the sidewalk, driving at different speeds, vans delivering parcels, buses. Anyone who has experienced a similar commute on foot will recognise many of the variables that Andersson’s research investigates – but do they hinder or enhance the experience of walking as a commuter?

Traffic noise was demonstrated to have more of an impact on inner city routes, which are perhaps busier and more congested with traffic, but Andersson raises an interesting point about the perception of noise in suburban areas where it is perhaps more noticeable.

Andersson recruited a large pool of volunteers in Greater Stockholm, to assess their perceptions and experiences of walking in both inner city and suburban environments. Four papers (two published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health and Frontiers in Public Health, and two unpublished papers included in this volume) focus equally on the experiences of pedestrians in both locations, assessing the impact of traffic and the impact of ‘green’ and aesthetically pleasing environments. All four papers adopt the same methodology, using ACRES (the Active Commuting Route Environmental Scale) to assess the experience of each participant. This robust and detailed methodology had previously been developed and tested on the experience of cyclists and is here applied to pedestrians and walking for the first time.

The most significant impact of traffic on pedestrians was the noise – a factor which has been identified by other studies as having significantly adverse public health impacts, including an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, stress and sleep problems. The noise from traffic is of course influenced by other variables such as speed and the flow of traffic, but interestingly, in this piece of research the dominant variable identified by participants was noise itself – making them feel less safe, and hindering their experiences of walking along their route. Traffic noise was demonstrated to have more of an impact on inner city routes, which are perhaps busier and more congested with traffic, but Andersson raises an interesting point about the perception of noise in suburban areas where it is perhaps more noticeable. Other studies from the US and elsewhere in Europe have also identified noise as a significant factor in preventing people from walking more regularly. In the discussion Andersson notes that some have suggested that the adoption of electric vehicles and lower speed limits in urban areas might reduce noise overall – it would also be interesting to assess how the adoption of e-scooters and similar means of transport might affect people’s experiences of walking.

The other key factors in people’s perceptions of their walking routes was the amount of greenery (trees, flowers, other plants) and whether or not they perceived their route to be beautiful or ugly. Andersson’s research shows an overwhelmingly positive correlation between perceptions of safety and of positive stimulation along routes which were identified by participants as green and beautiful. The importance of green space along routes has also been shown to be important in the other studies using this methodology, which focused on cycling. Being able to experience nature within urban and suburban settings is clearly a very important factor to encourage people to commute using methods that are both sustainable and healthy. There are also other benefits to greenery within urban environments, such as lowering noise and helping to combat the effects of extreme heat in the summer. These findings have important implications for the way that towns and cities are designed – incorporating green space and planting alongside active travel routes seems to be critical.

As a historian of landscapes and environments I would also be interested in whether the aesthetic appearance of a route, and the proportion of greenery are related to its age. Are routes through historic areas of cities and suburbs, with well established mature trees and plantings, and with older buildings and sites of local historic interest, more appealing to pedestrians than routes through relatively new built environments? How can modern planners and designers use the historic environment to inform new buildings, suburbs and transport planning in the future?

This collection of papers, and the discussion which draws them together, raises many interesting questions and possibilities for future research. The methodology established here could easily be translated to other countries and settings, from city-based approaches like Andersson’s in Greater Stockholm, to micro-level studies of individual streets. Key questions for the future might be what makes an environment beautiful, and how pedestrians respond to different types of perceived beauty. This volume is a clear and detailed piece of research which adds to our understanding of the importance of environment on people’s experience of walking and active travel. It deserves to be read widely amongst both academics and professionals working in planning, transportation and public health, as well as those with an interest in landscape, perceptions of beauty and urban environments.

Copyright © Sarah Spooner 2024