Our lives are defined in large part by the way we move in and between urban areas. Relentless motorised carbon-emitting vehicles and urban congestion clearly have direct impacts on health due to air pollution and limited physical activity. Poorer families tend to have lower carbon footprints, often in more peripheral neighbourhoods and because they use less private transport than the more affluent strata of society, yet those living in urban spaces even if they use public transport or use bicycles are subject to greater levels of pollution. The INHERIT consortium is researching these paradoxes to determine where environmental stressors in order to propose potential solutions. Building on multi-sectoral approaches to addressing modes of mobility, the main factors identified as influencing travel and transport include urban design and logistics planning, public infrastructure investments, cultural norms and economic aspects that affect areas and means of mobility.
Know how we can move in ways that protect the environment and promote health and health equity?