Transport and Children's Wellbeing

Owen Waygood, Margareta Friman, Lars Olsson, Raktim Mitra

• Publisher: Elsevier
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780128146958
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Transportation & Navigation
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Transportation and Children's Well-Being applies an ecological approach, examining the social, psychological and physical impacts transport has on children at the individual and community level. Drawing on the latest multidisciplinary research in transport, behavior, policy, the built environment and sustainability, the book explains the pathways and mechanisms by which transport affects the different domains of children's travel. Further, the book identifies the influences of transportation with respect to several domains of well-being, highlighting the influences of residential location on travel by different modes and its impact on the long-term choices families make.

The book concludes with proposed evidence-based solutions using real-world examples that support positive influences on well-being and eliminate or reduce negative solutions.

• Brings disparate child transportation material together in one clearly defined narrative
• Illustrates evidence using a range of examples from Europe, North America and Asia
• Includes new research developments on the intrinsic aspects of access and externalities

Chapter One

Introduction to transport and children’s wellbeing

E. Owen D. Waygood^a; Margareta Friman^b; Lars E. Olsson^b; Raktim Mitra^{c a} Department of Civil, Geological, and Mining Engineering, Polytechnique Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
^b Service Research Center and Department of Social and Psychological Studies, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden
^c School of Urban and Regional Planning, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada

Abstract

In this chapter, we will introduce the concept of wellbeing and how it can be impacted by transport. Wellbeing is commonly defined as pertaining to the physical, psychological, and social domains. The literature on the interactions between transport and children’s health or wellbeing has primarily focused on physical measures such as physical activity and safety (injuries and death). However, transport also facilitates children’s social interaction and recently, it has also been shown that transport impacts their life satisfaction. The aim of this book is not only to consider the most obvious physical impacts of transport on children’s wellbeing, but also the psychological and social impacts. Many people think of transport as simply a means of getting somewhere, in order to access activities; in essence, this is probably the most fundamental role of transport. However, there are both intrinsic and extrinsic differences between the various transport options that will impact children’s wellbeing. Thus, transport can impact children’s wellbeing: by facilitating the movement of individuals between locations (access); through what occurs during trips (intrinsic); and as a result of how others travel (extrinsic). We end this introduction with a brief summary of the 19 chapters contributing to this book, divided up into sections focusing on pathways, mechanisms, solutions, examples, and the way forward.

Keywords

Children; Transport; Wellbeing; Physical; Psychological; Cognitive; Social; Economic

Contents

• 1 Introduction
• 2 Transport and various domains of wellbeing
  • 2.1 Physical
  • 2.2 Psychological
  • 2.3 Cognitive
  • 2.4 Social
  • 2.5 Economic
• 3 Transport’s three means of impact on child wellbeing
• 4 Contributions to the book
• References

1: Introduction

The aim of this book is to bring together current evidence of the myriad ways in which transport influences children’s wellbeing. Many of these influences have previously been hypothesized or argued from a theoretical perspective. As new evidence emerges from empirical research, the nature and direction of the relationship between transport and the various domains of a child’s wellbeing are becoming clearer. However, much remains to be learned, and the breadth of knowledge to be introduced and discussed in this book is a step in that direction.

This book has two key concepts, namely “transport” and “wellbeing”. For the purposes of this book, we limit the definition of transport to the land-based movement of people and goods from one place to another, in order to facilitate participation in various economic, educational, social and recreational activities on a day-to-day basis. Most citizens, adults and children alike, have to make trips—with some of these happening on a regular basis (e.g., trips to and from school) and some more occasionally (e.g., trips to/from leisure destinations). In making these trips, people make various modal choices, with the common transport modes including privately-owned automobiles (i.e., cars), public transport/mass transit, bicycle, and walking. Some of these transport modes require light to moderate bodily movement and are hence called “active” transport modes (e.g., walking, cycling, and, to some extent, public transport). Others involve less physical activity and are commonly known as “passive” or “inactive” modes of transport (Tudor-Locke, Ainsworth, & Popkin, 2001). In addition, children’s travel can occur in the company of adult caregivers (known as escorted trips) or without adult supervision (known as children’s independent mobility, or CIM) (Hillman, Adams, & Whitelegg, 1990; Tranter & Whitelegg, 1994).

In comparison with the concepts relating to transport, the definition of wellbeing is somewhat elusive and often poorly conceptualized. The World Health Organization has been defining health as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” since 1948.^a Within this context, the term wellbeing encompasses aspects of health that include, but are not limited to, illness or other physiological deficiencies. In common parlance, wellbeing is often understood as a perception of life-satisfaction or “happiness” and more broadly, quality of life. However, some researchers emphasized the need for a more inclusive definition of the concept (Dodge, Daly, Huyton, & Sanders, 2012).

While scholarly efforts to identify a unified definition continue, it is possible to define, and therefore operationalize, wellbeing on the basis of an individual’s positive state in relation to characteristics pertaining to specific domains. Pollard and Lee (2003) defined wellbeing as a multidimensional construct that for children incorporates mental/psychological, physical, social, cognitive (a sub-domain of the psychological domain) and economic dimensions. They furthermore discuss the differences between psychological and cognitive domains—“The psychological domain includes indicators that pertain to emotions, mental health, or mental illness, while the cognitive domain includes indicators that are considered intellectual or school-related in nature.” (p. 64) Physical wellbeing evaluates physical health, e.g., physical activity, collisions, and asthma. The social domain pertains to sociological phenomena such as social interactions and social capital. Lastly, the economic domain relates to household income, which has been found to relate to certain wellbeing outcomes (but not all, and not always in a linear manner). For the purposes of this book, we define wellbeing as a child’s characteristic positive state with regard to his/her physical, psychological, cognitive, social and economic health.

A recent review demonstrated that consistent research findings globally demonstrate the links between transport and child wellbeing (Waygood, Friman, Olsson, & Taniguchi, 2017). Unfortunately, the predominant approach to transport planning practice in many Western countries, including the planning of transport infrastructure and the land uses facilitating and creating the demand for transport, has focused largely on the needs and transport patterns of able-bodied working-age adults. The impact of such planning decisions on children often remains overlooked in policy (Freeman & Tranter, 2011). For example, the typical approach to determining the level-of-service (LOS) of roadways focuses primarily on space-time convergence (i.e., speed and related time needs) for cars on the roads. This approach almost entirely ignores the safety of vulnerable users; but more importantly, it also ignores the role of streets as public spaces (Jones & Boujenko, 2009). The more recent introduction of the multi-modal LOS approach also puts its focus on adults’ travel. At the same time, contemporary Western urban development policy and practice often feature low-density development at the urban edges, a lack of mixed land use, and “magnet” facilities with larger service areas instead of neighborhood-level amenities (e.g., schools). The result of this can be an urban form where distances between destinations (e.g., between home and school) can be unreasonably large for a child, whereby the perceived level of safety is diminished due to fewer eyes on the street and the lack of pedestrian/cycling infrastructure can encourage automobile-dependency.

The current transport practices of many Western societies limit children’s mobility in many ways. Most daily trips made by children relate to local destinations, e.g., schools and local parks, which may be accessed via active modes. However, transport infrastructure or patterns can impact children’s travel by creating physical barrier or by elevating parental fear of traffic danger. As children and most adolescents do not drive, their daily mobility in an automobile-dependent urban environment can become excessively dependent on their parents, thus reducing opportunities for physical activity through active travel or play, and at the same time affecting their potential for social interaction. What are the direct and indirect impacts of these transport outcomes on children’s physical, psychological, cognitive, social and economic wellbeing? What can be done by policymakers, practitioners and community-organizations to improve transport-related wellbeing? In neighborhoods and societies where the use of active, safe and environmentally-sustainable transport modes is encouraged, do children enjoy better health and wellbeing? In this book, we seek to address these questions.

The book Transport and Children’s Wellbeing provides a broad overview useful to both academics and practitioners. To this end, we have brought together distinguished scholars from a variety of fields to provide reviews and evidence of current thinking on the links between transport and children’s wellbeing. Research on children’s wellbeing integrates several fields, including the environment, traffic and transport psychology; transport planning and engineering; transport geography; health geography; transport economics; consumer services; and environmental sociology. We hope that this book will provide a comprehensive understanding of the different domains of children’s wellbeing, explored through these different lenses. In this introductory chapter, we provide a brief background to Transport and Children’s Wellbeing and an overview of the chapters, arranged into five different parts: Overview of transport and children's wellbeing (Part I), Transport externalities and children's wellbeing (Part II), Solutions for transport and children’s wellbeing (Part III), Examples from different cultures (Part IV), and Future directions (Part V).

2: Transport and various domains of wellbeing

The existing literature has reported on consistent findings linking transport to children’s wellbeing. We present a summary of this literature as an introduction to the discussion on this topic, and in order to set the context for the upcoming chapters. We acknowledge that the summary presented here is not an exhaustive list of such influences.

2.1: Physical

Indicators from the physical domain include health-compromising behaviors, exercise, or safety-related behavior (Pollard & Lee, 2003). Transport can facilitate access to destinations allowing for exercise; it can also include exercise and cause health problems through externalities to others. Much recent attention has focused on active transport, which is any mode of travel that requires physical activity, with collisions having been a concern since the dawn of the car age. With increasing car use, other externalities have come into focus, e.g., emissions and vibrations/noise pollution. Chapter 2 will examine many of these relationships, with Chapters 6, 7, and 8 focusing respectively on speed and traffic danger, emissions, and health impact assessments.

2.2: Psychological

The psychological domain includes indicators pertaining to emoti...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Contributors
• About the editors
• Chapter One: Introduction to transport and children’s wellbeing
• Part One: Overview of transport and children’s wellbeing
• Part Two: Transport externalities and children’s wellbeing
• Part Three: Solutions for transport and children’s wellbeing
• Part Four: Examples from different cultures
• Part Five: Future directions
• Index