Research on how to accelerate urban cycling as a primary transportation choice.
Cycling for All: An Urban Cycling Think and Do Tank was a diverse, interdisciplinary and multi-sector research consortium supported by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Partnership Development Grant. The project was hosted at the University of Toronto in partnership with several nonprofit organizations.
Between 2012 and 2014 the team developed a unique methodology to study, apply, and evaluate three critical elements to the promotion of urban cycling as a primary transportation choice:
- sustainable cycling economies,
- social infrastructure, and
- knowledge mobilization.
The team studied how cycling intersects with cities, people and society, to better understand how to accelerate the widespread use of the bicycle as a means of transportation. The work focused on:
- mapping cycling patterns,
- exploring the economic benefits of cycling for transportation,
- bringing together literature from both environmental psychology and active transportation, and
- developing an integrated suite of tools for increasing cycle use in daily transport.
The research addressed an important gap in knowledge about building more sustainable cities: how experience from the behavioural change field can be transferred to the field of active transportation. The findings of this research can be found in Increasing Cycling in Canada: A Guide to What Works.
