Centro de Território, Ambiente e Construção
Escola de Engenharia da Universidade do Minho
Campus de Azurém
4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal
Phone: + 351 253 510 200 (517 206)
Fax: + 351 253 510 217
Email: geral@ctac.uminho.pt
Title | Healthy routes for active modes in school journeys |
Publication Type | Papers in International Journals |
Year of Publication | 2013 |
Authors | Ribeiro P. J. G., and Mendes J. F. G. |
Abstract | In recent years, walking and cycling to school has decreased conversely to the use of private cars due to its greater level of comfort and safety. However, the use of active modes of transport for short journeys is more economically and socially adequate as well as a healthier way of traveling. Active modes of transport can be defined as means of travel and transportation at low speed, which take up little space on the road, are air and noise non-pollutant, thus being regarded as more sustainable and a real alternative to cars. On the other hand, urban sustainable mobility implies the definition of policies and actions that rely on the promotion of less pollutant, economic, and more equitable modes of transport. To promote this modal shift, some policies focus on the facilities and urban form improvements to increase safety, namely for pedestrians. In this paper a different way to promote the use of active modes in school journeys is proposed and presented, which essentially uses and integrates information from noise and air pollution in the route planning process to generate healthy routes. The concept of generation of healthy routes was triggered by the need to reduce the exposure to noise and air pollution in school journeys, which can affect the children’s health and quality of life. The healthy route model involves the contamination of the distances of the transport network, according to the urban environmental noise levels and the concentration of particles - PM10, thus allowing the definition of the less polluted, less noisy and healthier route for active modes. The performance of the model is assessed by calculating the noise and air pollution exposure rates in the obtained routes, in comparison with the shortest route. To validate the model and its potential for the promotion of active modes, a case study is presented in a city centre located in North of Portugal for three different school journeys. |
Journal | International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning |
Volume | 8 |
Issue | 4 |
Pagination | 591-602 |
Date Published | 2013-12-12 |
Publisher | WIT Press |
ISSN | 1743-7601 |
DOI | 10.2495/SDP-V8-N4-591-602 |
Keywords | active modes, air pollution, cyclists, Health, noise, pedestrians, PM10 |
Rights | restrictedAccess |
Peer reviewed | yes |
Status | published |
The Centre for Territory, Environment and Construction (CTAC) is a research unit of the School of Engineering of University of Minho (UMinho), recognised by the “FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia” (Foundation for Science and Technology), associated to the Department of Civil Engineering (DEC), with whom it shares resources and namely human resources.
Currently CTAC aggregates 25 researchers holding a PhD of which 20 are faculty professors of the Civil Engineering Department. Read more
Centro de Território, Ambiente e Construção
Escola de Engenharia da Universidade do Minho
Campus de Azurém
4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal
Phone: + 351 253 510 200 (517 206)
Fax: + 351 253 510 217
Email: geral@ctac.uminho.pt