In order to raise awareness on particularly gender disparities during their exercise of the right to be mobile and participate in the city, this work aims to examine the associations between the frequency of the usage of on-demand transport services and particular factors related to gender-based inequalities such as sexual harassment, gender-based violence and fear, crime rates, social class and individual practices to contribute with broader debates on gendered social exclusion and inaccessibility. While intersecting concepts underpinning transport-related social exclusion (TRSE) and access to the city, this study uses official quantitative data, including attitudinal preferences, from the cities of Bogota and Mexico City provided by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) as part of their broader research on ride-hailing and Social Exclusion.

In depth assessment of appraisal techniques is conducted with a focus on participatory methods. The appraisal of a future major transport project for Milton Keynes is done using a fully participatory Multi-Actor Multi-Criteria Analysis method.

A growing recognition has addressed the benefits of cycling to both individuals and the city, accordingly arising interest globally in how to promote cycling in practice, by emulating premier experiences such as the Netherlands. Yet, this remains difficult in practice, because both the provision of cycling and cycling behaviour is grounded in place-specific context. This gap limits the understanding of subjectiveness when transferring cycling knowledge and policies, indicating that in-depth studies are immensely needed where discursive practice of practitioner’s viewpoint and cyclists’ experience are important elements to explore.Hence, using a leading exemplar in the Netherlands, the town of Houten, this study aims to examine why Houten manage to promote cycling. 18 in-depth interviews with practitioners and local cyclists are conducted as the main method to collect qualitative data. The language used by diverse actors is analysed drawn on the critical discourse analysis approach.It is proposed that first, the high-quality provision of cycling infrastructure along with related measures in Houten include 8 themes: segregated cycle network, intersection modifications, traffic calming, bike parking, integration with public transport, integration with the built environment, education and programmes, social and cultural norms. These perform as both ‘push’ and ‘pull’ measures to facilitate people cycling and discourage driving. Second, the implementation is contributed to a participatory process where the municipals, planning team, cyclist groups and residents together play active roles against the dominant car-centred narratives. Third, the high-quality provision and positive interference of governance benefit cyclists with pleasant experiences by meeting the travel need for a fast, coherent, safe and interesting journey, and the social need for mobility independence and social identity. The three aspects together gradually form a cultural identity of Houten as a bicycle city, and residents as well-behaved cyclists, hence consolidating and normalising cycling in terms of changing narratives.

The dissertation identifies the current barriers to using public transport, and how this affects the lives of disabled people in Surrey. Surrey differs to cities by having more rural areas, and so this study provides a different perspective

During the COVID-19 crisis, a series of measures restricting travel and outdoor activities are taken to mitigate the pandemic and minimise its negative effects. These unprecedented methods have greatly changed the number and purposes of trips and mode choices in travel. However, these changes in travel behaviour during and post the outbreak still remains unclear. In addition, different groups may be affected to varying degrees in terms of social equity, which is not fully discussed in the existing literature. Therefore, the aim of this dissertation is to investigate the differences in individuals’ travel behaviour before and after the pandemic using Huzhou as an example. Semi-structured interviews through telephone are used to explore the influence of COVID-19 on travel and perceptions of different groups. The results indicate that first travel demand was greatly reduced and public transport became the least popular travel mode during the pandemic due to policy constraints and the fear of infection. Secondly, decreased travel caused a lack of activity participation, which might affect health as well as subjective wellbeing negatively. Thirdly, the degree and the duration of such impacts vary from person to person. Students, people with lower incomes, groups living in communities with small size and insufficient green spaces, and those working in tourism, catering, informal business and transport-related sectors were more vulnerable than others in society. The key argument is that changes in travel behaviour due to COVID-19 caused inequity in these groups, while such unfairness has been overlooked by the local government. Thus, policymakers need to pay more attention to social inequities due to transport and individuals’ heterogeneity. Besides, public transport systems in Huzhou should be further developed to promote social cohesion in the way of expanding networks, increasing running frequency, building and updating infrastructures, introducing new modes such as light rails.

Monterrey, Mexico is a city that faces air pollution and congestion crisis due to a heavy reliance on private motorised mobility. The purpose of this paper is to show that governance plays a significant role in this issue, as the provision of mobility is fragmented between different levels of government and institutions that do not collaborate effectively. This research focuses on four topics, from a governance perspective: organisational structure, policy integration, finance and urban integration. It uses three progressive cities as case studies: Medellin, London and Singapore. These were selected as they have achieved a form of integration in their transport system and represent different political and cultural contexts. Documental research and semi-structured interviews were conducted in each city to understand their current framework and a coding matrix was created to perform a content analysis of the interviews. Results show that governance does impact significantly the ability of a city to pursue sustainable mobility. Progressive cities have integrated institutions that oversee planning, implementation, administration and monitoring of mobility, where Monterrey has these attributions fragmented in at least six organisations that scarcely collaborate. These cities have strong local plans that direct strategies and projects and support collaboration between agencies, level of governments and stakeholders. In Monterrey, the last metropolitan plan is outdated and has no integrating powers. Financing in Monterrey is not an issue of the number of resources, but how effectively they are being used. And finally, urban integration to mobility is being done through plans and policy in progressive cities but mostly treated separately in Monterrey. The paper concludes with a framework proposal for Monterrey, embedded in its current context, that would help the city overcome its issues. Further detailing would be needed for this framework to be realistically applied, but it is well-grounded on evidence.

Investigation into the impact of Covid-19 on the travel choice and behaviour, including how perceptions of public transport changed

The backcasting approach is gaining prominence in the field of transport planning as a way of exploring scenarios to achieve desirable visions. Embracing a collaborative approach, participatory backcasting includes a broad variety of actors to explore ways of achieving goals in situations of high uncertainty. This approach is suitable to address the complex challenges of transport planning in cities in the Global South where disorganized growth and periods of socio-political instability have led to conflicting city structures and severe mobility issues. This dissertation presents an innovative bottom-up, participation-oriented, backcasting approach for sustainable transport policy in Lima and Callao, in Peru. For this purpose, a methodology was developed from other existing participatory backcasting approaches. It conducted a series of semi-structured interviews with a wide range of stakeholders in the transport sector and consisted of five distinctive phases: (i) context setting; (ii) visioning; (iii) Policies and initial packaging; (iv) policy packaging and pathways; and (v) validation. The results outline the drivers and trends affecting transport in Lima and Callao and illustrates a desirable vision common to all participants. It also does a process of policy packaging and explores two scenarios based in institutions as a source of uncertainty. This document discusses the related literature, describes the methodology, outlines the results of the process, and then it reflects in its usefulness.

This is a dissertation project completed as part of the MSc Space Syntax: Architecture and Cities course at the Bartlett School of Architecture, which explores the urban morphological implications of the motorway in the city centre. The study takes the Westway motorway as an example of a Modernist approach to urban transport infrastructure and analyses its long-term impact on the hierarchy of centrality in the neighbourhood. Relations between change in spatial configurations and building attributes such as land use diversity and density are statistically examined. Finally, the study discusses to what extent the impact of top-down urban design manifested in urban growth would implicate community severance.

The ‘last mile’ trip, from transit hub to home, is a growing phenomenon in transport research and investment. Yet it has received minimal attention in the suburbs, where most last mile trips are done by car. This dissertation explores key factors affecting travel behaviour for the last mile — the built environment; trip satisfaction; and attitudes — using UK case studies of the Oxford and Oxford Parkway railway stations. Quantitative and qualitative analyses reveal lessons for policy and governance, adding to a renewed emphasis on active travel during the Covid-19 pandemic.