Active Transportation Choices and Health in Toronto

Road to Health: Improving Walking and Cycling in Toronto (109 page pdf, Toronto Public Health, April 2012) Today, we look at a report on Toronto that examines how walking and cycling as active transportation modes benefit health and how much more improvement could be achieved if both forms were optimized. Estimated benefits are over 129 [...]

What Makes a Walkable City?- a look at Canada’s largest city

The Walkable City: Neighbourhood Design and Preferences, Travel Choices and Health (58 page pdf, Toronto Public Health, April 2012) Today we look at Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) which has many of the challenges faced by other large American and Canadian cities which have evolved to a car-oriented end state that discourage walking [...]

Do More Roads Have Less Traffic?

Edward Glaeser’s Triumph of the City (Grush Hour, Apr. 11, 2012) Also discussed here: Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier [Paperback]  (352 pages, Edward Glaeser, Penguin, 2012) Today, we review a book by Edward Glaeser (with a nod of appreciation to Bern Grush’s blog) on [...]

Safe Roads for Seniors

Keeping Baby Boomers Mobile: Preserving the Mobility and Safety of Older Americans (25 page pdf, TRIP and American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, Feb. 2012) Also discussed here: Forgive and Forget (Streetsblog, Mar. 5, 2012) And here: Few U.S. cities are ready for aging Baby Boomer population (USA Today-Your Life, Mar. 25, 2012) [...]

The Challenge of the Future for the Cities of the World

Planet Under Pressure – A major international conference focusing on solutions to the global sustainability challenge  (Mar. 26-29, 2012, London, UK) Also discussed here: Sustainable Cities: Meeting the Challenge of Rapid Urbanization the Focus of “Planet Under Pressure 2012″ (Andrew Burger, Triple Pundit,  Mar. 28, 2012) And here: Planet under pressure / Navigating the Anthropocene [...]

Turning Urban Highways into Parks for People

The Life and Death of Urban Highways ( 44 page pdf, Institute for Transportation and Development Policy and EMBARQ, Mar. 2012) Also discussed here: Urban Highways Offer Cities New Opportunities for Revitalization (Erica Schlaikjer, The City Fix, Mar. 21, 2012) The report reviewed today summarizes the social, economic and environmental benefits that have resulted from [...]

Assessing Air Quality near Major Roads in Ontario, Canada

Environmental Guide for Assessing and Mitigating the Air Quality Impacts and Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Provincial Transportation Projects (78 page pdf, Environmental Policy Office, Ontario Ministry of Transportation, Jan. 2012) Also discussed here: Air Quality and Greenhouse Gas Impacts of Transportation (Dianne Saxe, Envirolaw, Mar. 1, 2012) Although it is considered still a “draft”, the [...]

A Plan to Reduce Greenhouse Gases for Canada’s Capital

An Energy & Emissions Plan for Canada’s Capital Region (78 page pdf, City of Ottawa, City of Gatineau, National Capital Commission, Lead Consultant, HB Lanarc Consultants Ltd., Feb. 2012) Also discussed here: Presentation to Environment Committee on Choosing Our Future and “An Energy & Emissions Plan for Canada’s Capital Region”  (Bill Pugsley, Feb. 21, 2012) [...]

Car Addiction and Climate Change Mitigation

The implications of climate change for the future of the car (64 page pdf, Dr. Mayer Hillman, World Transport Policy and Practice, pages 18-29, Jan. 2012) Today, we review a thoughtful article and the need to stabilize climate change by reducing carbon fuel use, in the context of a global look at the future for [...]

Where Would Seniors Choose to Live?

Best U.S. Cities for Seniors 2011 (15 page pdf, Bankers Life and Casualty CompanyCenter for a Secure Retirement, Sep. 2011) Also discussed here: Best U.S. Cities For Seniors Not What You’d Expect, Says New Study (Eric Miller, Vox Civitatis: the New Colonist Webog, Dec. 20,2011) The focus today is on a study which ranked 50 [...]

Sustainable Transportation and Mobility for Seniors

Great Ideas for Senior-Friendly Communities (US News, Jan. 12, 2012) Also discussed here: Age friendliness — sounds good, where is it? (Laurie Orlov , Aging in Place Technology, Jan. 14, 2012) And here: Aging in Place:A State Survey of Livability Policies and Practices (84 page pdf, Nicholas Farber, JD, and Douglas Shinkle,  National Conference of [...]

Making Public Transit Attractive

What’s the Best Way To Get Users To Embrace Mass Transit? Make it pleasant? Or make it efficient? (Tom Vanderbilt, Slate,  Jan. 19, 2012) Also discussed here: Human Transit: How Clearer Thinking about Public Transit Can Enrich Our Communities and Our Lives  (Jarrett Walker, Amazon) Today, the focus is on a new book, “Human Transit”  [...]

Really Narrow Streets and Sustainable Cities

Thinking Small: The Narrow Streets “Movement” (Old Urbanist, Mar. 29,2011) Also discussed here: In praise of Really Narrow Streets (StreetsBlog, Jan. 4, 2012) And here: Recipe for Florence (New World Economics, Jun. 17, 2007) And here: (Narrow Streets Los Angeles, Dec. 3, 2011) Today we look at  some articles about cities with really narrow streets, [...]

The Better Air Quality at Beijing Olympics- government controls or lucky weather conditions?

    Emission controls versus meteorological conditions in determining aerosol concentrations in Beijing during the 2008 Olympic Games (15 page pdf, Y. Gao, X. Liu, C. Zhao, and M. Zhang, Atmos. Chem. Phys.,  Dec. 28, 2011)   Also discussed here: Weather Deserves Medal for Clean Air During 2008 Olympics (Science Daily, Dec. 28, 2011)   And here: Impact of [...]

A Syndemic Approach to Healthy Sustainable Cities

Built Environment and Public Health: A Syndemic Perspective (17 page pdf, Michael McGeehin, 4th annual summit of the Research Triangle Environmental Health Collaborative, “Incorporating Public and Environmental Health into Sustainable Solutions”, Nov. 8, 2010) The focus of today’s review is on a recent urban summit linking the built environment to health and a presentation that [...]

Health Impacts of Electric Railway Noise

Transportation Noise and Blood Pressure in a Population-Based Sample of Adults (6 page pdf, Julia Dratva, Harish C. Phuleria, Maria Foraster, Jean-Michel Gaspoz, Dirk Keidel, Nino Künzli, L.-J. Sally Liu, Marco Pons, Elisabeth Zemp, Margaret W. Gerbase, Christian Schindler, Environ Health Perspect, Jan. 2012) Today, the focus is on a study of the impacts of [...]

Jane Jacobs and the Sustainable City

Defining principles: Remembering Mrs. Jacobs, The Power of Jane Jacobs’ “Web Way of Thinking” (Michael Mehaffy, World Streets, Dec.23. 2011) Also discussed here: Jane Jacobs Although born as an American and having made significant contributions to the New York City landscape, Jane Jacobs is often fondly viewed by Canadians as one of their own and one [...]

Making Paris Mobile in a Cleaner Environment

The greening of Paris ( Manisha Gutman, The Hindu,Feb. 3, 2008) Paris received an award recently for its Mobility Plan which was aimed at replacing its car culture with other and less polluting forms of transportation, including innovative bicycle and car sharing schemes, extensive information communication systems making known the availability of the alternatives and [...]

Health Benefits from Mitigating Climate Change in Transportation

Health co-benefits of climate change mitigation – Transport sector (156 page pdf, Jamie Hosking, Pierpaolo Mudu, Carlos Dora, Health Impact Assessment, World health Organization, Dec., 2011) Today the focus is on a report issued by the World Health Organization in connection with the Climate Change  Conference held at Durban, South Africa. The report examines the [...]

Sprawl and Health Impacts in Ontario, Canada

Report on Public Health and Urban Sprawl in Ontario – A review of the pertinent literature (53 page pdf, Riina Bray,Catherine Vakil MD, David Elliott,  Environmental Health Committee, Ontario College of Family Physicians, Jan. 2005) Today we review a report from the environmental health community on the negative impacts that sprawl has on the province [...]

The Health Benefits of Cycling’s Impact on Air Quality

Air Quality and Exercise-Related Health Benefits from Reduced Car Travel in the Midwestern United States (39 page pdf, Maggie L. Grabow, Scott N. Spak, Tracey Holloway,Brian Stone Jr., Adam C. Mednick, Jonathan A. Patz, Environmental Health Perspectives, Nov. 2, 2011) We all know that cycling is good for one’s fitness, as well as providing an [...]

Autolib: emission-free car sharing

Paris launches electric car-sharing scheme (BBC News, Sep. 30, 2011) You have to give Paris credit for innovation after reading today’s article. After the stunning success of its bike sharing program,Velib, comes Autolib, a program using electric cars for short trips. As anyone who has visited France  in recent years can tell, cities there –unlike [...]

NOx Emission Ceiling and Local Air Quality in the UK

Multi-Pollutant Measures Database – Final Interim Report: Meeting the NOx National Emission Ceiling for 2010 (100 page pdf, Entec UK Limited, DEFRA, June 2008) Putting a ceiling on nitrogen oxides is part of a broader plan by DEFRA in the United Kingdom which has the highest NOx levels in Europe. An interim report on the [...]

Putting a Value on Sustainable Transportation

The power and value of green in promoting sustainable transport behavior ( 11 page pdf, David Gaker, David Vautin1, Akshay Vij and Joan L Walker, Environ. Res. Lett., Jul. 26, 2011) The article reviewed today looks at what value is put on positive actions or decisions taken concerning sustainable transportation  options such as in buying [...]

Is Urban Intensification the Best Way to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions?

Dense downtown living more carbon intense due to higher consumption: a case study of Helsinki (10 page pdf, Jukka Heinonen, Riikka Kyr¨o and Seppo Junnila, Environ. Res. Lett., Sep. 26, 2011) Today’s review article (partly) turns on its head the assumption by urban planners that intensification of the urban population is a worthy objective from [...]

Congestion Pricing and Land-Use Planning

Congestion Pricing Works Best When Partnered With Land-Use Planning (ScienceDaily, Sep. 23, 2011) Today, an interesting paper is reviewed that concludes that congestion pricing is more effective in discouraging car trips when combined with land use planning that makes it easier for people to take transit. The road to improved air quality, as a result [...]

How Stressful is Commuting by Public Transit?

Despite Toronto, Montreal gridlock, commuters reluctant to use transit (The Globe and Mail, Aug. 24, 2011) Today’s review article has a number of interesting statistics relating to Canadian commuters that help to explain why 4 out of 5 of them choose driving by car over public transit. The answer seems to be the additional stress [...]

The Pain of Commuting

IBM 2011 Global Commuter Pain Survey (9 page pdf, IBM, Sep. 8, 2011) In many cities, vehicle emissions is a major contributer to urban air pollution and the choices commuters make in their choice of transportation mode has a major impact on the resulting air quality. Today we review the 4th annual world survey of [...]

The Costs of Using Roads

The price of transport – Overview of the social costs of transport (187 page pdf, J.P.L. (Joost) Vermeulen, B.H. (Bart) Boon, H.P. (Huib) van Essen, L.C. (Eelco) den Boer, J.M.W. (Jos) Dings, F.R. (Frank) Bruinsma, M.J. (Mark) Koetse , CE Transform, Delft, commissioned by Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, Dec. 2004) [...]

The Health Benefits of Cycling

The health risks and benefits of cycling in urban environments compared with car use: health impact assessment study ( 8 page pdf, David Rojas-Rueda, Audrey de Nazelle, Marko Tainio, Mark J Nieuwenhuijsen, British Medical Journal (BMJ), Aug. 4, 2011) Today’s focus is on a biking initiative in Barcelona which attracted 11% of the population and [...]

Getting People out of Cars- What does it Take?

Public attitudes to transport: Knowledge review of existing evidence (171 page pdf, Glenn Lyons, Phil Goodwin, Mark Hanly, Geoff Dudley, Kiron Chatterjee, Jillian Anable, Peter Wiltshire, and Yusak Susilo, Final report to the Department for Transport , Centre for Transport and Society, Bristol University, June 2008) The report reviewed today looks at the ways that [...]

What does Traffic Congestion Cost us?

Smart Traffic Congestion Reductions – Comprehensive Analysis Of Congestion Costs and Congestion Reduction Benefits (39 page pdf, Todd Litman, Victoria Transport Policy Institute, Aug.22, 2011) Today’s focus is on Todd Litman’s analysis of congestion costs and how this analysis can be used to select the most effective way of reducing congestion. The traditional way of [...]

Mid-Town Freeways, Sprawl and Quality of Life

A Distant Mirror: 40 Years of Urbanism in Vancouver (Nicholas Kevlahan, Raise the Hammer, Aug. 2, 2011) Vancouver is the only major city on the continent that does NOT have a freeway through its centre. Result? It has developed into an urban planner’s dream with high population density and a quality of life that is [...]

Car Dependency and Exclusion from Social Mobility

Transport & Social Exclusion – A survey of the Group of Seven nations (44 page pdf, Summary Report, Editor: Dr Karen Lucas, Transport Studies Group, University of Westminster, the FIA Foundation, Feb. 2004) Today’s focus is on the many ways that the mobility needs of the poor and disadvantaged are met (or not) in G7 [...]

Suburban Sprawl, Road Building and Vehicle Emissions

Lock-in Effects of Road Expansion on CO2 Emissions: Results from a Core-Periphery Model of Beijing ( 39 page pdf, Alex Anas and Govinda R. Timilsina, Working Papers, State University of New York at Buffalo, Jun. 9, 2010) By applying a traffic speed model to the megacity of Beijing, today’s review article examines the relationship between [...]

How Does Green Messaging in Transportation Affect Behaviour?

The power and value of green in promoting sustainable transport behavior (11 page pdf, David Gaker, David Vautin, Akshay Vij and Joan L Walker, Environmental Research Letters Volume 6 Number 3, Jul. 26, 2011) The question addressed by the review article today is how much does a “green” choice influence behavior when applied to transportation [...]

Why More and Safer Bike Paths Make Sense

The Bicycle Dividend (Nancy Folbre, Economix, New York Times, Jul. 4, 2011) We return to a focus today to the benefits of cycling, on the one hand, compared to the high costs to society of driving cars. To see Key Quotes and Links to key reports about this post, click HERE

Air Pollution at Airports

Gate Wait for Better Air (1 page pdf, Environmental Health Perspectives, Forum, Jul. 1, 2011) Today’s review article looks at ways to reduce emissions at airports by reducing taxiing times for aircraft preparing to take-off. Statistics indicate that an aircraft may spend as much as 30% of its time between push-off at the gate and [...]

Why Are Some Cities Safer for Cycling?

Evidence on Why Bike-Friendly Cities Are Safer for All Road Users (12 page pdf, Wesley E. Marshall, Norman W. Garrick, Environmental Practice, March 2011) Today’s review article – safety for cyclists- is quite timely for this blogger who lives in the first city in Canada’s largest province to get segregated bike lanes (opened July 10), [...]

How Can Transportation Technology and Practices Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions?

Technologies for Climate Change Mitigation: Transport Sector (250 page pdf, United Nations Environment Programme Risø Centre on Energy, Climate and Sustainable Development, March 2011) The focus today is on a comprehensive guide to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in transportation- either through improved technologies or in reducing travel with carbon consuming vehicles by such options as [...]

How does driving contribute to climate change?

The Role of Driving in Reducing GHG Emissions and Oil Consumption (45 page pdf, EMBARQ and the World Resources Institute, Jul. 6, 2011) The focus of today’s review is a report on how reductions in vehicle miles travelled (VMT), much more efficient automobile technology (double the mileage per gallon) and actions to reduce driving by [...]

The Decline of Car Use and Re-Urbanization

Going down? Newman and Kenworthy on Peak Car Use (World Streets: The New Mobility Agenda, Jun. 23, 2011) Today, the focus is on the declining use of cars in cities as a result of several factors which started before the recent large increase in fuel prices. This lowering of reliance on cars is having major [...]

Sustainable Urban Transportation Principles

Cars and cities: Time for a paradigm change (World Streets, Apr. 20, 2009) Today’s focus is a 2009 post from Australian Jeff Noteworthy who points out 10 characteristics of a modern city undergoing a paradigm shift toward sustainability, removing the bias toward unsustainable support of roads built and used solely for vehicles. To see Key [...]

Podcars in England

Personal rapid transit (Wikipedia) Today’s story comes from Milton Keynes a small town of around 200,000 in southeast England which recently commissioned a report on the feasibility of monorail podcars or a personal rapid transit system, as part of a transportation strategy for the next 20 years. This comes following the introduction of operational systems [...]

How gas prices affect where you live

The Effect of Gasoline Prices on Household Location (32 pge pdf, Raven Molloy and Hui Shan, Federal Reserve Board, Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2010-36, Washington, D.C., June 2010) Today’s focus is on an analysis of the impact of gas fuel costs on where home buyers chose to live. The report’s general conclusion was that [...]

e-Roads for e-Vehicles

Electric Roads May Be In Our Future (eMercedes Benz, May 4, 2011)   Today’s review article describes a new application of an idea developed over 100 years ago which would power vehicles as they are driven on highways. This would lighten the significant load vehicles must carry with energy stored in batteries, which in turn [...]

How Does Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) Compare to Pubic Transit?

Op-Ed. On relative costs of PRT, auto and public transit (Eric Britton, World Streets, Apr. 29, 2011) One of my favourite sources of information about transportation modes and the maestro for the World Streets blog, Erik Britton, borrows some recent facts from another key transportation guru, Todd Litman, to present a list of factors that [...]

Public Health and the Built Environment in Ontario

Public Health and Land Use Planning: How Ten Public Health Units are Working to Create Healthy and Sustainable Communities (232 page pdf, Kim Perrotta, Clean Air Partnership, April 2011) Today’s focus is on a report that reviews of factors in the built environment and in land use planning affecting health, including a summary of the [...]

Analysing Transportation Options in New York City

Meet the BTA (35 page pdf slideshow, Jul. 22, 2009)   Today’s review is of a sophisticated spreadsheet developed by Charles Komanoff to model the impact of various congestion pricing schemes in New York City with time varying rates on such outputs as revenue gains and losses (as shown below), impact on traffic volumes, vehicle [...]

Does Better Urban Design Beat Better Car Design when it comes to Emissions?

Cities: A Smart Alternative to Cars: Creating compact communities—and eliminating the need to drive everywhere—may be the best way to slash greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles (Business Week, Feb. 11, 2008)   Today’s review articles focus on the reasons why curbing sprawl by developing compact communities lessens the need to drive and, as a result, [...]