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Daily walks are recommended for health gains, and walkable urban environments are recommended as one strategy to combat climate change. Evidence of the relationship between physical environments and psychological health is increasing. The aim of this study was to systematically review and compile evidence regarding micro-scale characteristics in urban outdoor environments that impacted pedestrian short-term experience and/or long-term psychological health. The databases ScienceDirect, Scopus, PubMed, PsychInfo, and Google Scholar were used. To explore the area, a large heterogeneity in publications was allowed; therefore, it was not possible to conduct a meta-analysis. From 63 publications, data items were extracted from full text and categorized according to the main study characteristics. Environmental characteristics impacting pedestrians psychologically were identified and categorized into themes: grey, green, blue, and white areas, and weather, temporalities, topography, person factors, and safety. Environmental factors were analyzed from the perspective of the circumplex model of human affect (negative/positive dimensions and activation/deactivation). The findings included the fact that urban pedestrians need both positively activating and deactivating (restorative) areas during walkabouts. Perceived safety is essential for experiencing the positive aspects of urban environments. Some characteristics interact differently or have different importance for health in different groups. To further develop research on pedestrian environments, psychological experiences should be included.

This chapter reports the results of a survey on sexual transit crime with 309 university students in Huddinge (three-quarters of them women). Almost half of the respondents (48%) had experienced some kind of harassment or assault in transit environments. Of those who had been subjected to assault or harassment, only 18% had reported it, most commonly to the police, friends, or parents. More than a fourth of the students seldom or never felt safe going to or from the bus stop (29%) or station (28%) at night. For train riders, while 39% always felt safe during the day on the train or at the station, this dropped to 14% during nighttime on the train. The most common challenges encountered and reasons for avoiding the subway, bus, and commuter trains were the presence of drunk persons followed by sexual harassment. One quarter of female students indicated not using public transport as often as they would have liked because of sexual harassment. The chapter briefly summarizes the main findings from the case study and makes suggestions for research and practice.

Public transport mobility is restricted for the vulnerable travelers, e.g., those with functional limitations. By removing barriers, a more flexible and independent travel behavior is accomplished. For whole-trip traveling, we model accessibility as a three-way reciprocal relationship among travelers' functional ability, barriers met and resulting travel behaviors. For every journey and destination, an accessibility measure is constructed from all barriers' weights and the probabilities of encountering each of them in traveling to specific destinations. The accessibility to whole-trip traveling is then modeled by travelers' individual weightings of sets of barriers and the probabilities of encountering them. By using specific reference values, as in master scaling, we estimate the measurement error for each participant's perceived effort to overcome a certain barrier, and thus obtain a calibrated measure of accessibility. We conclude that customized abatement procedures must accomplish better accessibility for all, especially for the vulnerable travelers.

Accessibility of travel may be better understood if psychological factors underlying change in travel behavior are known. This paper examines older (65+) travelers' motives for changing their travel behavior. These changes are grounded in critical incidents earlier encountered in public-transport travel. A scientific framework is developed based on cognitive and behavioral theory. In 29 individual interviews, travelers' critical reactions (i.e., cognitive, emotional, and/or behavioral) to 77 critical incidents were examined. By applying critical incident technique (CIT), five reaction themes were identified that had generated travel-behavior change: firm restrictions, unpredictability, unfair treatment, complicated trips, and earlier adverse experiences. To improve older travelers' access to public transport, key findings were: (a) service must be designed so as to strengthen the feeling of being in control throughout the journey; (b) extended personal service would increase predictability in the travel chain and decrease travel complexity; consequently, (c) when designing new services and making effective accessibility interventions, policy makers should consider and utilize underlying psychological factors that could direct traveler behavior.

Elderly persons’ perceived accessibility to railway traveling depends on their functional limitations/diseases, their functional abilities and their travel behaviors in interaction with the barriers encountered during whole trips. A survey was conducted on a random sample of 1000 city residents (65–85 years old; 57% response rate). The travels were perceived least accessible by respondents with severely reduced functional ability and by those with more than one functional limitation/disease (e.g., restricted mobility and chronic pain). Those who traveled “often”, perceived the accessibility to be better than those who traveled less frequently. For travelers with high functional ability, the main barriers to more frequent traveling were travel costs and low punctuality. For those with low functional ability, one’s own health was reported to be the main barrier. Our results clarify the links among existing functional limitations/functional abilities, the barriers encountered, the travel behavior, and the overall accessibility to traveling. By operationalizing the whole-trip concept as a chain of events, we deliver practical knowledge on vulnerable groups for decision-making to improve the transport environment for all.

Vulnerable travellers experience various problems in the transport environment. These may reduce public travel confidence and consequently lead to decreased mobility. A goal of our research is to find out how to improve the accessibility to railway travelling,especially,for persons with functional limitations. By reducing barriers, the ability of travelling would be improved, and consequently allow for more flexible travel behaviors. In order to develop a model and a method of measurement for accessibility, we (a) constructed a reference group of representative ‘typical older persons’ (65-85 years)from questionnaire data, and (b) developed an accessibility measure for persons with functional limitations. In this measure barriers have different weights for the different persons depending on their functional ability and travel behavior. This gives the probability of facing a certain barrier when travelling to a certain destination; that is, a measure of accessibility for the individual. The more weight placed on a certain barrier,the less probable it is that the particular journey will take place. These weights will be obtained in forthcoming research on the perception of a set of various travel scenarios representing barriers.

Improving accessibility to railway systems for persons with disabilities is a governmental assignment to the Swedish Transport Administration. A main issue is to develop quality assured measurement of accessibility. Apart from the accessibility definition, our research focus is on the validity of the measurements and measurement uncertainty. By defining an accessibility measure that is multiplicative, we obtain a measure that represents the different barriers persons can face when travelling.

New methods are developed to measure the extent to which rail passengers, especially those with functional limitations, can access transport systems as a part of the whole trip. Measurement with persons is central in determining interdisciplinary commonalities and differences in (i) terminology; (ii) measurement methods; (iii) measurement uncertainty, and (iv) decision making. Metrological concepts are adapted in novel ways to be able to measure the constructs accessibility and usability in railway transport systems for travelers with and without functional limitations. A multiplicative accessibility measure is defined that represents the different barriers persons can face when travelling. Our first action concerns the measurement of measure improvement actions to the railway system and travel.

The first section of this chapter consists of a brief literature overview of the factors that affect transit safety and explains why the concept of intersectionality is an important lens through which to examine transit safety. This is followed by a brief introduction of each of the four case study cities and their samples– Huddinge (Sweden), Mexico City (Mexico), San Jose (USA), and São Paulo (Brazil) –, and a discussion of three individual components of intersectionality – race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and age. This is followed by a discussion of the findings, conclusions and an assessment of the findings for research and policy., This chapter (draft) is part of the book, Transit safety among college students: An international study

The first section of this chapter consists of a brief literature overview of the factors that affect transit safety and explains why the concept of intersectionality is an important lens through which to examine transit safety. This is followed by a brief introduction of each of the four case study cities and their samples– Huddinge (Sweden), Mexico City (Mexico), San Jose (USA), and São Paulo (Brazil) –, and a discussion of three individual components of intersectionality – race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and age. This is followed by a discussion of the findings, conclusions and an assessment of the findings for research and policy., This chapter (draft) is part of the book, Transit safety among college students: An international study

The first section of this chapter consists of a brief literature overview of the factors that affect transit safety and explains why the concept of intersectionality is an important lens through which to examine transit safety. This is followed by a brief introduction of each of the four case study cities and their samples– Huddinge (Sweden), Mexico City (Mexico), San Jose (USA), and São Paulo (Brazil) –, and a discussion of three individual components of intersectionality – race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and age. This is followed by a discussion of the findings, conclusions and an assessment of the findings for research and policy., This chapter (draft) is part of the book, Transit safety among college students: An international study

The first section of this chapter consists of a brief literature overview of the factors that affect transit safety and explains why the concept of intersectionality is an important lens through which to examine transit safety. This is followed by a brief introduction of each of the four case study cities and their samples– Huddinge (Sweden), Mexico City (Mexico), San Jose (USA), and São Paulo (Brazil) –, and a discussion of three individual components of intersectionality – race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and age. This is followed by a discussion of the findings, conclusions and an assessment of the findings for research and policy., This chapter (draft) is part of the book, Transit safety among college students: An international study

The first section of this chapter consists of a brief literature overview of the factors that affect transit safety and explains why the concept of intersectionality is an important lens through which to examine transit safety. This is followed by a brief introduction of each of the four case study cities and their samples– Huddinge (Sweden), Mexico City (Mexico), San Jose (USA), and São Paulo (Brazil) –, and a discussion of three individual components of intersectionality – race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and age. This is followed by a discussion of the findings, conclusions and an assessment of the findings for research and policy., This chapter (draft) is part of the book, Transit safety among college students: An international study