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University of Cambridge

Advancing transport modelling for health applications

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

The design of cities and transport systems influences population health. The way we move affects pollution exposures, traffic injury risk, physical activity, and many other determinants of health and well-being. The causal mechanisms are complex leading to micro-scale variations in health depending on people’s needs, itineraries and choices. There is an increasing research focus on understanding the health impacts of policies targeting travel behaviour. For example, health impact assessments estimate the health effects of behavioural shifts, usually with a focus on active travel. Existing methods are typically spatiotemporally aggregate and cannot offer insight into the mechanisms of behavioural change. Emerging methods from transport modelling could support health analyses by incorporating more advanced behavioural theory and capturing movements with high spatial and temporal precision. This dissertation explores how transport modelling can evolve to support health applications. Travel demand modelling methods are enhanced to simulate plausible week-long itineraries to better capture habitual behaviour. Methods from health impact modelling are incorporated into an agent-based transport simulation to capture exposures and impacts as agents carry out their itineraries. Micro-environmental spatial data are incorporated into a network database to capture street-level determinants of walking and cycling. Using this enhanced database, methods are developed for incorporating street-level environment sensitivities into mode choice and accessibility. The advancements introduced in this dissertation aim to be operationalisable and transferrable and are supported by open-source code.

Degree

thesis:*
Name dc:type.qualificationname
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Level dc:type.qualificationlevel
Doctoral
Grantor dc:publisher.institution
University of Cambridge
Year dc:date.issued
2025

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Staves, Corin
Advisors dc:contributor.advisor
  • Woodcock, James
  • Moeckel, Rolf
  • Labib, SM

Subjects

dc:subject × 7

Rights

dc:rights
Language dc:language
eng

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
DOI dc:identifier.doi
https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.121149
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/389085

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Cambridge University
Base URL
api.repository.cam.ac.uk/server/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Staves, Corin. Advancing transport modelling for health applications. Doctoral thesis, University of Cambridge, 2025. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.121149