MRC Epidemiology UnitThis page highlights various resources summarising our research into travel, transport and urban planning from the Population Health Interventions programme, arranged by theme.
Jump to:
- General summaries and evidence submissions
- Propensity to Cycle tool
- Health and wellbeing benefits
- Infrastructure and interventions
- Active travel and equity
- Traffic and air pollution
- Road safety, traffic danger
- Other resources
General summaries and evidence submissions
- House of Lords Built Environment Committee: Public transport in towns and cities – Evidence submission, March 2022
- All Party Parliamentary Group for Cycling & Walking (APPGCW) – Evidence submission, July 2021
- House of Lords inquiry: The long-term impact of the pandemic on towns and cities – Evidence submission, June 2021
- House of Lords National Plan for Sport and Recreation Committee – Evidence submission, January 2021
- House of Commons Transport Committee – Active travel inquiry – Evidence submission, October 2018
- House of Lords National Policy for the Built Environment Committee – Evidence submission, October 2015
- House of Commons Health Select Committee – Diet & Physical Activity – Evidence submission, March 2015
- Transport for London – Cycle Superhighwway – Evidence submission, November 2014
- All Party Commission on Physical Activity – Evidence submission, April 2014
- All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group – Evidence submission, April 2013
- NICE Walking & Cycling Guidance – Evidence submission, November 2012
- House of Lords Science & Tech Select Committee – Behaviour Change – Evidence submission, July 2011
Propensity to Cycle tool – www.pct.bike
The Propensity to Cycle Tool provides an evidence base to inform cycling investment.
- www.pct.bike
- PCT resources: www.pct.bike/manual.html
- PCT Blog https://blog.pct.bike/
- PCT Impact Report, 2020
- England’s Cycling Potential: Results from the Department for Transport-funded Propensity to Cycle Tool project – Evidence Brief, February 2017
- Don’t overlook equity when deciding where to place cycling schemes – TransportXtra blog, May 2021
The PCT is also used in the Cycling and walking investment strategy: active travel investment models
Health and wellbeing benefits of walking and cycling
- Daily 11 minute brisk walk enough to reduce risk of early death – News, March 2023
- Walking or cycling to work associated with reduced risk of early death and illness – News and blog, May 2020
- Finding alternatives to the car for travel could lower risk of illness and death – News and blog, May 2018
- Incorporating active travel into long commutes is associated with reduced body fat – News, October 2017
- More people cycling and eating more fruit & veg could save thousands of lives – but at what cost? – News, February 2017
- Nature’s cure in the modern age – Blog, January 2016
- Switching to public transport or cycling to get to work might help shed the pounds – News, May 2015
- Walking, cycling and public transport beat the car for wellbeing – News, September 2014
- London bike hire: health benefits outweigh risks from injury and pollution – News, February 2014
- Walking & Cycling for Transport: How promoting active travel can help meet the physical activity challenge – Evidence Brief, March 2013
Infrastructure and interventions
- Designing for health – creating physically active communities – Blog, October 2019
- Twenty times more English children could cycle to school with better transport planning – Blog, March 2019
- Using Google StreetView to estimate travel patterns in cities – News, May 2018
- Active travel – function over form: How to make walking and cycling interventions successful – Evidence Brief, September 2019
- Roads and communities: the impact of major road infrastructure on health in local neighbourhoods – Evidence Brief, December 2017
- Why it’s not always ‘normal’ to exercise – and how that could change – Blog, November 2017
- Changing the way we travel: Infrastructure and our everyday transport choices – Evidence Brief, June 2017
- Final report of the Traffic and Health In Glasgow Study – April 2017
- Happy Mondays (and every day) – putting health at the centre of our cities – Blog, September 2016
- Final report of the Commuting and Health in Cambridge study. The report, Health impacts of the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway: a natural experimental study, represents the culmination of several years of research that has generated important new findings about how our towns and cities can shape behaviour and health. January 2016
- Buses, bicycles and building for health – Blog, December 2015
- Cambridgeshire ‘guided busway’ encouraging people to be more active on the commute – News, November 2015
- Build it and they will come? Study sheds light on how new walking and cycling routes change behaviour – News, September 2015
- High-quality traffic-free routes encourage more walking and cycling – News, July 2014
Active travel and equity
Press releases that summarise key work in this area.
- Men pose more risk to other road users than women – News, April 2020
- Indian women confined to the home, in cities designed for men – Blog, August 2018
- New cyclists still disproportionately young and male, research finds – News, February 2015
Traffic and air pollution
- Air pollution is a hidden pandemic in Africa – how to reduce your exposure and help combat it – Blog, May 2023
- New evidence map and tools launched to support policies to reduce traffic-related air pollution – News, February 2023
- Planting more trees could reduce premature deaths in European cities by a third – Blog, February 2023
- Walking and cycling good for health even in cities with higher levels of air pollution – News, May 2016
Road safety, traffic danger
- The impact of the M74 motorway extension on road traffic accidents – News, June 2016
- Road Safety: switch to cycling to keep others safe – Blog, April 2020
Other resources
- Physical activity for public health: in pursuit of rigorous evaluation in the real world. A keynote talke given by David Ogilvie at a seminar on 17 March 2016 jointly hosted by The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre, the Prevention Research Collaboration and the Sax Institute.
- Active Travel: How and Why (pdf) – a talk given by Jenna Panter at the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Annual Travel Awards conference on 25 February 2016.
- Searching for evidence in the living laboratory. A keynote lecture given by David Ogilvie at the International Congress on Physical Activity and Public Health, Rio de Janeiro, 9 April 2014
See also the history of the Physical Activity and Public Health programme page for other material.