PASTA - Physical Activity through Sustainable Transport Approaches

Duration

48 mesos (2014-2018)

Coordinator

University of Natural Resources and Life Science, Austria - Michael Meschik

Funded by

NormEuropean Commission, FP7-HEALTH-2013-INNOVATION-1 (Grant Agreement # 602624)

PASTA project focuses on the systematic promotion and facilitation of active mobility (AM) (i.e. walking and cycling including the combination with public transport use) as an innovative approach to integrate physical activity (PA) into individuals’ everyday lives. In contrast to sports or exercise, AM requires less time and motivation, since AM provides both convenience as a mode of transport, and a healthy lifestyle. As such it has potential to reach parts of the population which have not been receptive to the appeals and benefits of sports and exercise.

The objectives of the project are the following:



The project will review the literature on AM and identify innovative measures and systematic initiatives to promote AM as well as traffic safety interventions.

A longitudinal study will be conducted to evaluate the ongoing AM initiatives combined with traffic safety interventions to better understand correlates of AM and their effects on overall PA, injury risk and exposure to air pollution.

An improved user-friendly tool for more comprehensive health impact assessment (HIA) of AM will be developed.

The tool will be applied to AM behavior observed in the case study cities and allow the assessment of health and economic impacts of measures.

The project will also produce a compendium of good practices of AM promotion aimed at decision makers, implementing authorities, businesses, civil society organizations and end users.

Findings and progress reports will be communicated to diverse target audiences, including policy makers, practitioners, researchers and end-users, through a number of media, i.e. reports, journals, brochures, web-content, workshops and presentations.