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‘You feel unusual walking’: the invisible presence of walking in four English cities

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‘You feel unusual walking’: the invisible presence of walking in four English cities. / Pooley, Colin; Horton, David; Scheldeman, Griet et al.
In: Journal of Transport and Health, Vol. 1, No. 4, 12.2014, p. 260-266.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

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Pooley C, Horton D, Scheldeman G, Mullen C, Jones T, Tight M. ‘You feel unusual walking’: the invisible presence of walking in four English cities. Journal of Transport and Health. 2014 Dec;1(4):260-266. Epub 2014 Aug 28. doi: 10.1016/j.jth.2014.07.003

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Bibtex

@article{ea131f03a31a4eb7b772df46076c17e1,
title = "{\textquoteleft}You feel unusual walking{\textquoteright}: the invisible presence of walking in four English cities",
abstract = "Walking is widely recognised as good for health and for the environment, yet many short journeys in urban areas continue to be undertaken by car. This paper draws on research from a large multi-method project to analyse the factors that limit walking for everyday travel. It is argued that although most people see walking in a positive light, and almost everyone walks on some occasions, as an activity it remains barely visible within society, and is rarely recognised in the planning of urban infrastructure. Our research shows that under current urban conditions constraints imposed by family and life-style factors, perceptions of safety and convenience, and expectations about what means of everyday travel are normal severely restrict levels of walking for many people. We argue that while low levels of walking for particular purposes, especially leisure and health, are common and expected, walking is rarely seen as a visible or viable form of everyday transport. To step outside of these norms of expectation by walking more is constructed as unusual behaviour, and the fact that a substantial amount of walking does take place on urban streets is barely acknowledged. We argue that there is need to recognise fully the walking that exists, and to plan more effectively to accommodate pedestrians so that walking is perceived as an expected way of moving around urban areas.",
keywords = "Walking, normality , risk , family , travel , planning , health",
author = "Colin Pooley and David Horton and Griet Scheldeman and Caroline Mullen and Tim Jones and Miles Tight",
note = "The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal of Transport and Health 1 (4), 2014, {\textcopyright} ELSEVIER.",
year = "2014",
month = dec,
doi = "10.1016/j.jth.2014.07.003",
language = "English",
volume = "1",
pages = "260--266",
journal = "Journal of Transport and Health",
issn = "2214-1413",
publisher = "Elsevier BV",
number = "4",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - ‘You feel unusual walking’

T2 - the invisible presence of walking in four English cities

AU - Pooley, Colin

AU - Horton, David

AU - Scheldeman, Griet

AU - Mullen, Caroline

AU - Jones, Tim

AU - Tight, Miles

N1 - The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal of Transport and Health 1 (4), 2014, © ELSEVIER.

PY - 2014/12

Y1 - 2014/12

N2 - Walking is widely recognised as good for health and for the environment, yet many short journeys in urban areas continue to be undertaken by car. This paper draws on research from a large multi-method project to analyse the factors that limit walking for everyday travel. It is argued that although most people see walking in a positive light, and almost everyone walks on some occasions, as an activity it remains barely visible within society, and is rarely recognised in the planning of urban infrastructure. Our research shows that under current urban conditions constraints imposed by family and life-style factors, perceptions of safety and convenience, and expectations about what means of everyday travel are normal severely restrict levels of walking for many people. We argue that while low levels of walking for particular purposes, especially leisure and health, are common and expected, walking is rarely seen as a visible or viable form of everyday transport. To step outside of these norms of expectation by walking more is constructed as unusual behaviour, and the fact that a substantial amount of walking does take place on urban streets is barely acknowledged. We argue that there is need to recognise fully the walking that exists, and to plan more effectively to accommodate pedestrians so that walking is perceived as an expected way of moving around urban areas.

AB - Walking is widely recognised as good for health and for the environment, yet many short journeys in urban areas continue to be undertaken by car. This paper draws on research from a large multi-method project to analyse the factors that limit walking for everyday travel. It is argued that although most people see walking in a positive light, and almost everyone walks on some occasions, as an activity it remains barely visible within society, and is rarely recognised in the planning of urban infrastructure. Our research shows that under current urban conditions constraints imposed by family and life-style factors, perceptions of safety and convenience, and expectations about what means of everyday travel are normal severely restrict levels of walking for many people. We argue that while low levels of walking for particular purposes, especially leisure and health, are common and expected, walking is rarely seen as a visible or viable form of everyday transport. To step outside of these norms of expectation by walking more is constructed as unusual behaviour, and the fact that a substantial amount of walking does take place on urban streets is barely acknowledged. We argue that there is need to recognise fully the walking that exists, and to plan more effectively to accommodate pedestrians so that walking is perceived as an expected way of moving around urban areas.

KW - Walking

KW - normality

KW - risk

KW - family

KW - travel

KW - planning

KW - health

U2 - 10.1016/j.jth.2014.07.003

DO - 10.1016/j.jth.2014.07.003

M3 - Journal article

VL - 1

SP - 260

EP - 266

JO - Journal of Transport and Health

JF - Journal of Transport and Health

SN - 2214-1413

IS - 4

ER -