Evaluating and understanding how interventions work to encourage shifts towards active travel
type: CreativeWork
description: Replacing motorised transport with active travel, such as walking or cycling for transport, has multiple environmental and health co-benefits. However, with the large variety of intervention forms that may be implemented to shift population levels of active travel, such as modifying the built environment or implementing policies that restrict the use of motorised vehicles, it is difficult to know which should be prioritised. It is thus important to understand which types of interventions are most effective at encouraging active travel uptake. This includes identifying whether there are mechanisms or underlying processes common to successful active travel interventions (i.e., intervention functions), or whether differences in intervention design or the specific components included (i.e., intervention form) can influence intervention effectiveness. Thus, this thesis aims to identify, evaluate, and understand the key characteristics of effective interventions to encourage shifts towards active travel. The first part of my research involves a systematic review comparing the effectiveness of carrot, stick, and a combination of the two, or carrot-and-stick transport interventions. Interventions with a stick strategy, such as those with functions involving taking away road space or leading to decreases in convenience, are less widely assessed in the literature compared to those with a carrot strategy, such as those aiming to increase access and safety for active travel. The findings also suggest that stick and carrot-and-stick interventions are more effective at either reducing driving or increasing active travel than carrot-only interventions. I also find that interventions seeking to influence driving behaviour using financial means or active travel by modifying access, safety, and space are more impactful than others. Having identified that there is a need to increase the evidence base on interventions that include a stick strategy, I evaluate three interventions with s…
abstract: Replacing motorised transport with active travel, such as walking or cycling for transport, has multiple environmental and health co-benefits. However, with the large variety of intervention forms that may be implemented to shift population levels of active travel, such as modifying the built environment or implementing policies that restrict the use of motorised vehicles, it is difficult to know which should be prioritised. It is thus important to understand which types of interventions are most effective at encouraging active travel uptake. This includes identifying whether there are mechanisms or underlying processes common to successful active travel interventions (i.e., intervention functions), or whether differences in intervention design or the specific components included (i.e., intervention form) can influence intervention effectiveness. Thus, this thesis aims to identify, evaluate, and understand the key characteristics of effective interventions to encourage shifts towards active travel. The first part of my research involves a systematic review comparing the effectiveness of carrot, stick, and a combination of the two, or carrot-and-stick transport interventions. Interventions with a stick strategy, such as those with functions involving taking away road space or leading to decreases in convenience, are less widely assessed in the literature compared to those with a carrot strategy, such as those aiming to increase access and safety for active travel. The findings also suggest that stick and carrot-and-stick interventions are more effective at either reducing driving or increasing active travel than carrot-only interventions. I also find that interventions seeking to influence driving behaviour using financial means or active travel by modifying access, safety, and space are more impactful than others. Having identified that there is a need to increase the evidence base on interventions that include a stick strategy, I evaluate three interventions with s…
author: Xiao, Christina
language: eng
keywords: Active travel, Behaviour change, Epidemiology, Evironmental health, Health policy
license: https://apollo8-f-pro.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/64266b48-698b-4c89-b7ee-37dafa438c38/download
license: https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/
date published: 2022-12-31
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:23Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.96806