Healthy places, active transport and path dependence: a review of the literature

Abstract

Children walking to school, people cycling to the shops or work and neighbours chatting in the street, these are some of the gauges of an active and healthy community that can be achieved through utilising good design principles. But are these principles being applied in urban developments or are policy-makers following a 'path dependent' trajectory that severely limits the best practice outcomes sought? This review examines current research on path dependence to determine how this concept advances our understanding of barriers to change in the built environment, active transport and healthy communities. An online database search of scholarly bibliographic records identified 22 relevant articles for a critical review of studies that evaluated path dependence in the urban and built environment literature with a focus on transport, urban planning and health. A thematic analysis of the articles showed that different types of path dependence have contributed to the dominance of policies and designs supporting car-based transport to the detriment of public transport and active transport modes, leading to sub-optimal development patterns becoming 'locked-in'. However, the outcomes for active transport and physical activity are not all dire, and path dependence theory does provide some guidance on changing policy to achieve better outcomes. This review suggests that path dependence is one of the best theoretical frameworks to help health promoters understand barriers to change and can provide insights into developing future successful public health interventions. Future studies could focus further on active transport, local neighbourhood development and physical activity.

Physical activity patterns in a representative sample of adolescents from the largest city in Latin America: a cross-sectional study in Sao Paulo

“…There was also an increase in bike paths and programmes such as 'ciclofaixas de lazer', where part of the streets and avenues are open to cyclists on weekends. Finally, green areas such as squares and parks around the city have also been expanded and valued as important public spaces for PA. 21 In our study, patterns of domain-specific PA were different between boys and girls. Active transportation Open access was higher, in absolute and relative terms, in girls than in boys.…”

“…Furthermore, bike lanes represent an opportunity to encourage the equitable and sustainable use of public spaces, as they have the potential to change transportation behaviours. 21 Therefore, understanding the patterns of total and domain-specific PA by sex, socioeconomic status and maternal education can provide new insights and enable future research on how policies and interventions impact PA in adolescents. To describe the PA pattern in adolescents in Sao Paulo, we used data from a large representative sample of students, the Sao Paulo Project for the Social Development of Children and Adolescents (São Paulo para o desenvolvimento social de crianças e adolescentes -SP-PROSO).…”

Policies for Reducing Car Traffic and Their Problematisation. Lessons from the Mobility Strategies of British, Dutch, German and Swedish Cities

“…The policy problematisations observed in the documents result in silences of importance for the transition towards sustainable transport systems-in terms of CO2 emissions and overall km travelled-that partly explain how path dependencies reported in previous research (e.g., [8,9]) are produced.…”

London’s King’s Cross redevelopment: a compact, resource efficient and ‘liveable’ global city model for an era of climate emergency?

“…Originally conceived within the boundaries of other disciplines such as social sciences, politics and economics (Pierson 2000;Gains, John, and Stoker 2005;Mahoney 2000), path dependency has gained importance in urban planning and urban studies. Although not exempt from criticism (Booth 2011), previous research has proven the influence of path dependency on urban regeneration (Couch, Sykes, and Börstinghaus 2011), urban policy for transport, public health and neighbourhoods (Hensley, Mateo-Babiano, and Minnery 2014) and institutional impact on neighbourhood effect (Wu, He, and Webster 2010). According to Mahoney, path dependency occurs when 'contingent events set into motion institutional patterns or event chains that have deterministic properties' (Mahoney 2000, 508).…”