Advances in Transportation and Health

Tools, Technologies, Policies, and Developments

Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, Haneen Khreis

• Publisher: Elsevier
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9780128191378
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Transportation & Navigation
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Transportation and Health provides state-of-the-art knowledge on the many linkages between transport and health, the available tools needed to estimate and evaluate the health impacts of transport, future technologies, the developments that can change the direction and magnitude of the health impacts, and the policy and education issues that can result in better practice and knowledge translation. The book provides valuable information on how and why to take health into consideration in transport planning and policy, showing how to estimate the impacts of transport on health in planning, policymaking, education and workforce development.

• Explores the latest advances on the full spectrum of connections between transport and health
• Offers a "roadmap" on how transport impacts health
• Includes tools for analyzing and estimating the health impacts of transport
• Shows what research and practice gaps need attention
• Includes contributions from leading scholars, practitioners and policymakers

Part I

Introduction and setting

Outline

• Chapter one Transport and health; an introduction

Chapter one

Transport and health; an introduction

Mark J. Nieuwenhuijsen¹ and Haneen Khreis^{1, 2}, ¹Barcelona Institute for Global Health–Campus MAR, Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB), Doctor Aiguader, Barcelona, Spain, ²Center for Advancing Research in Transportation Emissions, Energy, and Health (CARTEEH), Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI), College Station, TX, United States

Abstract

Transport is an essential component of economic activity and is often envisioned as a driver for urban development and a key contributor to economic returns. Transport also has direct (negative and potentially positive) impacts on the health of a population. Transport provides many jobs, which is normally good for the income of people and their health. However, there are also many negative health impacts of transport, particularly motorized transport in cities such as motor vehicle crashes, high air pollution and noise levels, heat island effects, and lack of green space and physical activity. It is now well recognized that there is a relationship between land use, transport, and health, and to change transport and health, one has to change land use. In this chapter, we provide an introduction to the topic and make some suggestions on how to reduce the negative health impacts. Land use changes, a move from private motorized transport toward public and active transportation and change in policy assessment, are all needed to make transport healthier.

Keywords

Transport; health; air pollution; noise; temperature; physical activity; green space; cost benefit

Contents

Outline

• Introduction 3
• Trends 5
• Adverse health impacts 6
• Land use, transport, and health 8
• Reduce car dependency and move toward public and active transportation 19
• Land use changes 22
• Policy assessment changes 24
• Conclusion 25
• References 26
• Further reading 32

Introduction

Transport is an essential component of economic activity and is often envisioned as a driver for urban development and a key contributor to economic returns. It is important for moving goods and people and provides “the right connections in the right places” (Eddington, 2006). Urban transport networks facilitate the economic competitiveness, social progress, and cultural diversity of urban areas (Eddington, 2006; Hall et al., 2014). Transport also has direct (negative and potentially positive) impacts on the health of a population. For example, the car industry is a large employer and exports products in countries such as Germany and Spain and therefore boosts the economy, which is generally good for health and health care, for example, because of better income for workers. Road construction and maintenance is also a large employer and responsible for many jobs. Motorized mobility is a criterion for measuring country-level economic success, and the level of automobility is often seen as a function of income and/or social status (Ecola et al., 2014). However, there are also many negative health impacts of transport, particularly motorized transport in cities. These impacts, as shown later in this chapter and book, are particularly connected to the use and prevalence of motorized transport. In developed countries, there is a cultural and economic dependence on motor vehicles as the primary mode of transport dominates urban transport design and planning and reduces the opportunity of other and healthier transport modes (Jeekel, 2013). Though mass motorization started later in developing countries, it is growing rapidly, causing similar problems in many developing cities (Dargay et al., 2007).

The adverse health impacts of motor vehicle traffic are striking, with over 1.3 million deaths and 78 million injuries warranting medical care are due to motor vehicle crashes (MVCs), each year globally (Bhalla et al., 2014). Traffic-related exposures, including air pollution, greenhouse gases (GHGs), noise, dwindling green space, and urban heat islands (UHIs), contribute to the climate crisis, environmental pollution, and degradation, which, in turn, impacts negatively on the population’s health and is responsible for millions of deaths and cases of disease each year (Nieuwenhuijsen, 2016). Mass motorization and the associated lack of physical activity (PA) have resulted in a large disease burden and contribute to a large number of annual deaths due to physical inactivity. Current urban forms and lack of infrastructure for active travel are furthermore reinforcing the excessive use of motorized transport for short-distance trips (Cervero and Duncan, 2003; Giles-Corti and Donovan, 2002), further contributing to increased traffic-related environmental exposures and reduced opportunities for PA. Outdoor air pollution and decreases in PA, both to some extent caused by motorized traffic, are associated with annual estimates of 4.2 million and 2.1 million global deaths, respectively (Forouzanfar et al., 2015). There is, however, emerging evidence that sustainable transport infrastructure and modes such as cycling, walking, and public transport/transit can be effective in promoting an increase in active commuting (Heinen et al., 2015; Panter et al., 2016; Heath et al., 2006), thereby also having the potential to reduce deleterious traffic-related environmental exposures (Woodcock et al., 2009; Grabow et al., 2012).

Trends

There are two key trends of development that are responsible for the negative health impacts of traffic; rapid urbanization and mass motorization. The urban population is still expected to rise from 50% at the moment to 70% in the next 20 years (Rydin et al., 2012), while the number of cars is expected to rise from the current 1 to 1.6 billion in 2040 (Bloomberg New Energy Finance, 2017). Rapid urbanization coupled with excessive catering for car use in these areas has led to dominance of the car in many places. Even though private motorized transport may not be the predominant mode choice in many cities, cars still occupy a large proportion of public space due to the infrastructure needed for them such as roadways and parking spaces. And although some cities in the developed world are recognizing the negative impacts, car-centered urban models are still the widespread norm (United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), 2012). Car-centric urban models allowed and have led to urban sprawl as car travel enables traveling for longer distances between residences and work (United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), 2012). A large proportion of the population lives and works in close proximity to highways and roads, including children, as schools are often located in high traffic pollution exposure areas (Health Effects Institute (HEI), 2010; Brandt et al., 2015). Exposures to heat, air pollution, and radiation are often enhanced in urban areas (Vanos, 2015)...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• List of contributors
• Part I: Introduction and setting
• Part II: Transport and effects on health
• Part III: Recent and future developments
• Part IV: Tools and design
• Part V: Policy education and workforce
• Part VI: Conclusions
• Index