Urban Transportation and Human Health

Transport has a wide range of impacts on health. Many of these are beneficial, such as providing access to a huge range of opportunities (work, education, leisure, social contacts) and allowing physical activity (from daily routines through walking and cycling). But there are many harmful effects from transport as well, ranging from well-recognized health impacts, such as injuries and the consequences of air pollution, to community severance and the long-term impacts of greenhouse gas emissions. These positive and negative impacts of transport are experienced differentially across society, with a tendency for the benefits to be experienced by the healthy and the affluent and the adverse effects by the poor, the young, and the elderly. A modal shift away from cars in favor of walking, cycling, and public transport can reduce the harms of transport and enhance the benefits to individuals, society, and the environment.