Evidence of Green Areas, Cycle Infrastructure and Attractive Destinations Working Together in Development on Urban Cycling

Abstract

The built environment influences and promotes cycling that has now become a challenge for sustainable urban mobility in many cities where this mode of transport carries little weight. This is the case for Granada (Spain), a medium-sized city in southern Europe, which as a university city and with lots of green areas, could find potential supportive factors to promote cycling. Website-apps with a Global Positioning System (GPS), such as Ciclogreen that encourage active accessibility try to promote cycling and are supported by the University of Granada. The aim of this work is to assess the capacity of green areas and some influential factors of their built environment to attract cycling routes. To this end, a spatial analysis was made and interpreted by a statistical model to check the correlation between these factors and a high number of cycling routes through or near the green areas.The results show a high number of cycling routes within urban surroundings that include green areas, cycle lanes, university facilities, and public car parks in proximity relationships. Identifying synergies among these urban factors and the information and incentive coming from a digital catalyst in shape on an app could be useful in urban planning for cycling.

Expanding Social, Psychological, and Physical Indicators of Urbanites’ Life Satisfaction toward Residential Community: A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis

“…Green area may provide an inviting setting for walking, jogging, and cycling activities, thereby promoting physical health. It can also reduce psychological stress, anxiety, and depression to promote mental health [27][28][29]. Additionally, green area provides a platform for social activities, creating opportunities for outdoor social interaction among residents (e.g., engaging in leisure and sport activities, meeting old friends, or making new acquaintances) [30,31].…”

“…Green area is an important recreational facility of residential areas and includes street trees, squares with green elements, parks, and gardens within the residential communities [18,25,26]. Such an inviting setting provides space for walking, jogging, group dancing, sports, and social recreational activities, and therefore could promote mental and physical health [23,[27][28][29] and increase residents' satisfaction with their community, as well as help them to live in a healthier and more natural way in the city [23].…”

Cycling as a Sustainable Transport Alternative in Polish Cittaslow Towns

“…As a consequence, the location of cycling routes matters a lot. Cycling routes should be ideally designed to run across green spaces in a city, such as parks, squares, leisure spots by the water and city forests [20]. Bicycles are cost-efficient [21], do not emit dangerous substances, reduce the use of dwindling resources of energy and can help to fight lifestyle diseases.…”

Urban Development and Population Pressure: The Case of Młynówka Królewska Park in Krakow, Poland

“…Previous studies confirm that more attractive, easy to access and well-equipped green spaces are visited more often than others [40,42,43]. Accordingly, the analysis of cycling preferences performed by Campos-Sánchez et al provides evidence, that green areas, together with other environmental conditions (e.g., proximity of university buildings, which occurs in this case) can play an attractive role in route choices [82].…”