TAPAS summons all cities participating in the project

All members of TAPAS project met last two days to present the different characteristics of cities participating: Barcelona, Basel, Copenhagen, Paris, Prague and Warsaw.

It was a workshop of this project which objective is to help decision makers design urban policies that address climate change and also promote other health-related outcomes.

In particular, we are interested in assessing conditions and policies that hinder or encourage active travel, and resulting health impacts. We will develop a tool box for policy makers to calculate and demonstrate the potential net health benefits of their policies, which they can use to encourage change. A quantitative assessment of impacts of active travel policies will be developed for six case study cities: Barcelona, Basel, Copenhagen, Paris, Prague, and Warsaw. We will collect existing data and take additional measurements to assess determinants of active travel and potential co-benefits and co-risks of modal shifts from motorized to non-motorized modes of travel.

The work is expected to lead to healthy and active lifestyles by providing an evidence base for designing optimal policies that will encourage a change to active transportation leading to an increase in physical activity and provide other health and environmental benefits.

The transportation sector represents a significant contributor to greenhouse gases emitted in Europe. The introduction of more efficient cars and reducing vehicular travel are essential components of climate change mitigation policies across the continent. Shifting the population towards active modes of transportation (e.g. cycling, walking) represents a particularly promising strategy with a high potential of public health co-benefits. Such change may result in a sustained increase in physical activity in the population – a major requirement to abate the obesity epidemic.

Other potential benefits include improvements in environmental quality indicators such as ambient air pollution and noise, as well as in the social environment (social capital) and quality of urban life, and related health impacts. However, depending on local conditions and policies, these strategies may also result in adverse health effects as inhalation of air pollutants may increase among those physically active along traffic arteries and traffic accident rates may increase. Currently there is no holistic framework and related tools for policy makers to evaluate these inputs and expected health impacts.

Specifically, we are interested in assessing the conditions and policies that influence or urge active travel and the resulting health impacts. We will develop a portfolio of tools for policy makers to calculate and demonstrate the potential net benefits of health policies, which can be used to promote change. Collect existing data and take additional measures to determine the determinants of the trip and co-active co-benefits and potential risks of changes in the way of travel, ie changes in non-motorized motorized travel.

Work is expected to give birth to healthy lifestyles and active, providing an evidence base for policy design optimized to promote a shift to active transport, which lead to an increase in activity physical and other environmental benefits and contribute to health.

The transport sector contributes significantly to the greenhouse gases emitted in Europe. The introduction of more efficient cars and reducing travel by car are essential components of the mitigation of climate change across the continent. Convince the people and to enable active advocacy of transportation modes (eg cycling, walking, etc..) Represents a particularly promising strategy with great potential for additional benefits this means for public health. This change may result in a sustained increase in physical activity level of the population - a main requirement to combat the obesity epidemic and amainar.

Other potential benefits are improvements in environmental quality indicators such as air pollution / air pollution and noise, as well as the social environment (social capital) and quality of urban life and related health impacts. However, depending on local conditions and policies, these strategies can also lead to adverse effects on health, as the inhalation of air pollutants may increase among people who do more physical activity and traffic arteries rate of traffic accidents may also increase. Currently there is no holistic framework or a portfolio of tools available to policy makers because they evaluate these inputs and expected impacts on health.