Embedding public health into transport planning outcomes through a people-first approach
{All content has been excerpted from our evidence paper: ‘The heart of road use’. References are provided in the full paper.}
The way roads are used has changed over time from places for mixed modal transportation and social and economic life to places primarily focused on car-based transport. Streets designed for a mix of uses are now the exception rather than the norm. A growing trend of car dependency in Australia has been influenced by factors such as geography (e.g. regional vs capital cities), household income, urban sprawl, limited access to public transport, and car-focused road infrastructure. Car dependency poses a significant public health challenge due to prolonged periods of time spent sitting, traffic-related air pollution and noise.
During the 20th century, car ownership has become essential for travelling large distances and accessing key services and destinations, contributing to a largely car-dependent society, physical inactivity, congestion and pollution.
Car ownership in Australia is among the highest in OECD countries and many parts of Australia are highly car-dependent. Australia’s residential speed limit is also among the highest in OECD countries. Car dependency disproportionately affects people living on lower incomes, and in low density, outer urban and peri-urban areas where there is more likely to be poor access to public transport.
Car dependency poses a significant public health challenge, with car travel regarded as a pervasive form of sedentary behaviour. There is strong evidence linking longer durations of car use to greater risk of obesity among adults. There is also evidence that prolonged time spent sitting in cars, including as a passenger, is related to a greater risk of diabetes, an unfavourable cardiometabolic risk profile, cardiovascular disease mortality and poor mental health and well-being. Car dependency can negatively impact health by increasing traffic-related air pollution, which in turn raises the risk of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases via pathways involving oxidative stress, inflammation, changes to the nervous system and vascular dysfunction. Traffic noise can also be harmful to heart health and is associated with an increased risk of ischaemic heart diseases and stroke, likely due to stress responses and disruptions to sleep and circadian rhythms.
Conversely, alternatives to car travel are good for heart health! As well as having other economic and environmental benefits and improving mental health and quality of life.
Supporting heart health starts with better design. Reducing car use and encouraging walking, wheeling, bike riding and use of public transport improves heart health, wellbeing, the economy and the environment.
Road and street designs play a key role in enabling active, healthy lifestyles.
The paper’s summary of recommendations are:
- Prioritise people-first approaches to street design and implementation for urban road projects at all levels of government.
- Provide high-quality infrastructure that supports people walking, which is separate from other forms of micromobility that travel faster than walking speed (e.g. bikes and e-scooters).
- Establish low-stress bicycle riding networks connecting daily living destinations like public transport, shops and schools. These networks should separate bicycle riding infrastructure from vehicular traffic on busy roads and be designed to accommodate a range of micromobility users.
- Ensure that road crossings increase overall neighbourhood accessibility by being highly visible, placed in logical, convenient locations that service the area. Timing of traffic signals at road crossings should have short wait times and ensure adequate time to cross streets for people of all levels of mobility.
- Improve the connectivity of neighbourhoods for people walking, wheeling and bike riding via linear parks, cut-throughs and other measures, intersection density and layouts that support more direct route options.
- Ensure universal accessibility of local street infrastructure so that it can be used safely by all people, including those with disability or limited mobility, older people and children.
- Reduce speed limits and volume of vehicular traffic using street-level traffic calming measures or area-wide approaches like Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs).
- Create attractive main streets with greenery, lighting, public amenities and outdoor dining that people access by foot or bike.
- Build community awareness and support for people-first approaches to road use by adopting values-based messaging in public communications that can grow support for walking, wheeling, bike riding and other active transport initiatives.
- Develop comprehensive neighbourhood-level plans that incorporate the maximum number of recommendations from this report to ensure maximum benefits to people living in, working in and visiting these neighbourhoods.
You can read the full report: https://www.healthyactivebydesign.com.au/resources/publications_and_policies
The Heart Foundation gratefully acknowledges the following individuals and organisations who prepared this paper: Professor Anna Timperio, Dr Shannon Sahlqvist, Professor Jenny Veitch: Deakin University Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition. Associate Professor Ashim Debnath: Deakin University School of Engineering. Dr Nicole Edwards: University of Western Australia, Australian Urban Design Research Centre. Dr Jerome Rachele, Dr Venurs Loh: Victoria University. Ms Alison Lee, Dr Lucy Gunn, Dr Afshin Jafari, Dr Manoj Chandrabose.