The Human-Scale Design Podcast

Connections between physical activity and the built environment, with Greg Lindsey

bikeshare healthSustainable Cities Collective

Greg Lindsey is a professor at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. He has collected quite a few awards over the years for his work linking academic research with real-world practice.

What caught my eye was his work studying the relationship between the built environment and physical activity.

Greg has been published by the Journal of the American Planning Association, the Journal of Physical Activity and Health, and a host of others.

 

Understanding the Use of Non-Motorized Transportation Facilities

Consider this quote from one of Professor Lindsey’s publications:

“Traffic counts and models for describing use of non-motorized facilities such as sidewalks, bike lanes, and trails are generally unavailable. Because transportation officials lack the data and tools needed to estimate use of facilities, their ability to make evidence-based choices among investment alternatives is limited.”

Greg talks about how he attempted to tackle this issue and let’s us in on some of the findings.

 

What are the economic impacts of rideshare?

Rideshare is a system of sharing bicycles that encourages people to pay for short, one-way trips. Bikes are usually available around the clock. The theory is that people will choose to ride a bike instead of driving a car, leading to more choices for the rider.

Bike from the station near your office to the station at the deli. Spend money. Return to work.

Does it work? Greg and a team of researchers crunched a lot of data. Tune in to hear about the connection between bikeshare and local economy.

 

Bikeshare secret sauce is…food.

Food? Yes, food. Come on, I’m not going to spoil everything.

Listen to the episode for more!

 

What’s next for the non-motorized transportation research team?

Anyone interested in scientific analysis will enjoy learning about some of the current research projects.

  1. Automated technology for monitoring bicycle and pedestrian traffic. More reliable data means better transportation planning.
  2. Counting bicycle and pedestrian traffic on every mile of a city’s multiuse trail system.

 

Connect with our guest

Check out some of the work spearheaded by Professor Greg Lindsey, or just reach out and say hello.

 

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