Esther Anaya Boig

Imperial College London | Imperial · Centre for Environmental Policy

Background: Emerging evidence points to the beneficial role of greenspace exposure in promoting cardiovascular health. Most studies have evaluated such associations with conventional cardiovascular endpoints such as mortality, morbidity, or macrovascular markers. In comparison, the microvasculature, a crucial compartment of the vascular system wher...

In less than a decade, with the emergence of food delivery platforms, cycling has gained increased visibility on city roads across the world. For the first time since the advent of the automobile age, the bicycle is re-emerging globally as a dependable tool to earn a living. Food delivery start-ups such as Deliveroo, Uber Eats or Glovo enroll an in...

BACKGROUND AND AIM Recent studies have shown that active travel is generally associated with lower levels of both perceived and measured stress. Specific microenvironmental conditions encountered during daily journeys, however, may lead to varying degrees of stress experienced at that moment. Our aim is to evaluate how travel mode-specific stress,...

Previous research has shown that walking and cycling could help alleviate stress in cities, however there is poor knowledge on how specific microenvironmental conditions encountered during daily journeys may lead to varying degrees of stress experienced at that moment. We use objectively measured data and a robust causal inference framework to addr...

La micromovilidad se basa en el uso compartido de vehículos mecánicamente sencillos como la bicicleta y el patinete, ahora con propulsión eléctrica, a través de dispositivos electrónicos que acceden a información en tiempo real (es decir, gracias al uso de apps en nuestros dispositivos móviles smartphones). El patinete eléctrico ha sido el más reci...

Bike-sharing schemes have been spreading globally during the last years. These should be publicly available schemes, servicing all groups of population. But the literature shows there are underrepresented population groups amongst their users. The physical access to bike-sharing stations and the supporting network of cycle lanes seems to influence...

This is the second chapter of the book "Cycling Societies", edited by Dennis Zuev, Katerina Psarikidou, Cosmin Popan. This book was published in 2021 by Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Cycling-Societies-Innovations-Inequalities-and-Governance/Zuev-Psarikidou-Popan/p/book/9780367336615

Bike-sharing schemes have been spreading globally during the last years. These should be publicly available schemes, servicing all groups of population. But the literature shows there are underrepresented population groups amongst their users. The physical access to bike-sharing stations and the supporting network of cycle lanes seems to influence...

Background Stress is one of many ailments associated with urban living, with daily travel a potential major source. Active travel, nevertheless, has been associated with lower levels of stress compared to other modes. Earlier work has relied on self-reported measures of stress, and on study designs that limit our ability to establish causation. Ob...

In less than a decade, with the emergence of food delivery platforms, cycling has gained increased visibility on city roads across the world. For the first time since the advent of the automobile age, the bicycle is re-emerging globally as a dependable tool to earn a living. Food delivery start-ups such as Deliveroo, Uber Eats or Glovo enroll an in...

Bike-sharing schemes (BSS) have now been implemented in many cities worldwide. Research has so far focused mainly on operating BSS, while closed BSS and comprehensive national overviews have attracted much less attention. This exploratory study is novel in that it compiles data from all of the station-based BSS ever implemented in Spain, allowing a...

Active travel (walking or cycling for transport) is considered the most sustainable form of personal transport. Yet its net effects on mobility-related CO2 emissions are complex and under-researched. Here we collected travel activity data in seven European cities and derived life cycle CO2 emissions across modes and purposes. Daily mobility-related...

Active travel (walking or cycling for transport) is considered the most sustainable and low carbon form of getting from A to B. Yet the net effects of changes in active travel on changes in mobility-related CO2 emissions are complex and under-researched. Here we collected longitudinal data on daily travel behavior, journey purpose, as well as perso...

The importance of setting a policy focus on promoting cycling and walking as sustainable and healthy modes of transport is increasingly recognized. However, to date a science-driven scoring system to assess the policy environment for cycling and walking is lacking. In this study, spread-sheet-based scoring systems for cycling and walking were devel...

Active travel (walking or cycling for transport) is considered the most sustainable form of personal transport. Yet its net effects on mobility-related CO2 emissions are complex and under-researched. Here we collected travel activity data in seven European cities and derived life cycle CO2 emissions across modes and purposes. Daily mobility-related...

Active travel (walking or cycling for transport) is generally good for health, the environment and the economy. Yet the net effects of changes in active travel on changes in mobility-related CO2 emissions are complex and under-researched. Here we collected longitudinal data on daily travel behavior, mode choice, as well as personal and geospatial c...

Cycling policy pioneered in road network and vehicle design, but it then was overshadowed by the increased use of cars. Countries that reclaimed space for cycling on time managed to integrate it in their city and transport policies in the 1970s and 1980s, and today enjoy high levels of cycling mobility. Although policy making and research tends to...

Free access until June 04 2020 here: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1avCCLDQwyMG Increased cycling uptake can improve population health, but barriers include real and perceived risks. Crash risk factors are important to understand in order to improve safety and increase cycling uptake. Many studies of cycling crash risk are based on combining dive...

This study analyses factors associated with cyclist injury severity, focusing on vehicle type, route environment, and interactions between them. Data analysed was collected by Spanish police during 2016 and includes records relating to 12,318 drivers and cyclist involving in collisions with at least one injured cyclist, of whom 7230 were injured cy...

The goal of this research is to explore the role of the collision partner-vehicle type and driver culpability-in incidents involving injuries to people cycling. Previous research has explored a range of factors affecting cyclist injury severity, but were more frequently focused on cyclist behaviour and/or road conditions. The database for our study...

Measuring bicycling behaviour is critical to bicycling research. A common study design question is whether to measure bicycling behaviour once (cross-sectional) or multiple times (longitudinal). The Physical Activity through Sustainable Transport Approaches (PASTA) project is a longitudinal cohort study of over 10,000 participants from seven Europe...

Background: Although walking for travel can help in reaching the daily recommended levels of physical activity, we know relatively little about the correlates of walking for travel in the European context. Objective: Within the framework of the European Physical Activity through Sustainable Transport Approaches (PASTA) project, we aimed to explo...

Physical activity has been widely associated with beneficial health effects. The use of electric-assist bicycles (e-bikes) can lead to increased or decreased physical activity, depending on the transport mode substituted. This study aimed to compare physical activity levels of e-bikers and conventional bicycle users (cyclists) as well as across e-...

Background: Sufficient sample size and minimal sample bias are core requirements in empirical data analyses. Combining opportunistic recruitment with an online survey and data collection platform yields new benefits compared to traditional recruitment approaches. Objective: The objective of this paper is to report on the success of different recru...

BACKGROUND: Sufficient sample size and minimal sample bias are core requirements for empirical data analyses. Combining opportunistic recruitment with a Web-based survey and data-collection platform yields new benefits over traditional recruitment approaches. OBJECTIVE: This paper aims to report the success of different recruitment methods and obta...

Aim: To assess the main and interaction effects of black carbon and physical activity on arterial blood pressure in a healthy adult population from three European cities using objective personal measurements over short-term (hours and days) and long-term exposure. Methods: A panel study of 122 healthy adults was performed in three European citie...

There is a tension between research and practice in the field of cycling as well as general in environmental policy. Numerous scientific publications and knowledge do not reach the people who might benefit from them. Not only what the International Cycling Conference 2017 intended to tackle this deficit with a large-scale forum, but also this publi...

Background: Transport mode choice has been associated with different health risks and benefits depending on which transport mode is used. We aimed to evaluate the association between different transport modes use and several health and social contact measures. Methods: We based our analyses on the Physical Activity through Sustainable Transport...

Background: Sufficient sample size and minimal sample bias are core requirements in empirical data analyses. Combining opportunistic recruitment with an online survey and data collection platform yields new benefits compared to traditional recruitment approaches. Objective: The objective of this paper is to report on the success of different recr...

Background: In the fight against rising overweight and obesity levels, and unhealthy urban environments, the renaissance of active mobility (cycling and walking as a transport mode) is encouraging. Transport mode has been shown to be associated to body mass index (BMI), yet there is limited longitudinal evidence demonstrating causality. We aimed to...

Subjective perception of air pollution is important and can have impacts on health in its own rights, can lead to protective behaviour, or it can be leveraged to engage citizens and stakeholders in support of cleaner air policies. The aim of the current analysis was to examine associations between level of concern over health effects of air polluti...

Introduction: When physical activity is promoted in urban outdoor settings (e.g. walking and cycling), individuals are also exposed to air pollution. It has been reported that short-term lung function increases as a response to physical activity, but this beneficial effect is hampered when elevated air pollution concentrations are observed. Our st...

Background/aim The increased inhalation rate during physical activity in urban environments may result in increased inhaled dose of traffic-related air pollutants. Short-term exposure to traffic-related air pollutants has been associated with increasing blood pressure. The current study assesses the main effects and interaction effects of traffic-r...

See full paper at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317871361_NO2_but_Not_PM_25_at_the_Home_Address_is_Associated_with_Concern_over_Health_Effects_of_Air_Pollution Background/aim People living in urban areas in Europe are exposed to elevated concentrations of air pollution. The lower the air pollution levels, the better for your health; s...

Background/aim Transport behaviours have been associated with several positive and negative health effects. The current study evaluates the association between different modes of transport and subjective general health in an adult population in seven European cities, and explores whether mental health, vitality, perceived stress, social contacts, a...

Abstract While the annual number of trips of the average urban inhabitant has grown steadily in recent years, people are becoming less active while doing so. This lack of physical activity causes major health problems for individuals and great economic costs for society as a whole. Replacing short motorized trips by walking and cycling has been sho...

Highlights •Bicycle-sharing systems’ catchment areas encompass 6–18% of the cities’ population. •Systems coverage favor wealthier and centrally located neighborhoods. •Systems users were higher educated than the general population. •Contractual arrangements are key in shaping the location and coverage of systems. •Equity should be considered a...

En aquest article, després de fer un repàs a les particularitats de la mobilitat en bicicleta, es presenta la proposta d’una política integral de la bicicleta. S’hi tenen en compte aspectes com les infraestructures, la legislació, l’educació i capacitació, la participació, els moviments socials i culturals que hi estan involucrats, la comunicació i...

Guidelines for the integration of cycling regulations in the local by-laws in Spain. Cycling regulations at national level in Spain are only for non-urban roads, so it is up to the municipalities to regulate urban mobility. This document provide guidance to draft all the different aspects to take into account in local regulations for cycling. This...

Active mobility (AM), including walking and cycling as single trips or in combination with public transport, has recently been promoted by health professionals-with WHO leading the way-to tackle health problems caused by physical inactivity. In fact only 1/3 of the European population is estimated to meet the minimum recommended levels of physical...

The PASTA project ran from October 2013-October 2017, and was about getting individuals to be more physically active by integrating physical activity (PA) into their daily transport activities through walking and cycling. This report reflects the work and findings from the first work package of the PASTA project. In a nutshell, this report looks at...

Background There is increasing evidence that active mobility contributes to overall physical activity, and is negatively associated with obesity. However, the associations between active mobility, physical activity and body weight are complex. In the current analysis, a number of research gaps are tackled (e.g. including leisure-time physical activ...

Background In order to increase the levels of physical activity in urban population, it is essential to know how a behavioural change towards cycling as active mobility can be produced and what factors influence people in their choice to cycle. But few studies have done longitudinal analysis of behavioural changes in cycling in relation to their po...

Background In order to increase the levels of physical activity in urban population, it is essential to evaluate how real-life policy interventions affect the population cycling attitudes and behaviour. There is evidence to support that policies of different nature have the potential to influence cycling behaviour, but few studies have done longitu...

Background Cities are increasingly turning towards active travel policies to help address some the world’s greatest public health challenges, in particular physical inactivity. However, what will actually work to promote walking and cycling remains uncertain, and findings from the scientific literature may differ from what stakeholders and decision...

Background People living in urban areas in Europe are exposed to elevated concentrations of traffic-related air pollution. The lower the air pollution levels, the better for your health; so people exposed to higher concentrations should be worried more about air pollution. But are they? The aim of this analysis was to examine associations between c...

Reduction of sedentary time and an increase in physical activity offer potential to improve public health. However, quantifying physical activity behaviour under real world conditions is a major challenge and no standard of good practice is available. Our aim was to compare the results of physical activity and sedentary behaviour obtained with a se...

Background Active mobility (i.e. walking and cycling) has been associated with multiple health benefits from reduction to cardiovascular risk, lowering of body weight, improvement of fitness, reduced risk of diabetes, to higher levels of physical and mental well-being. The association between active mobility and subjective general health remains un...

Background Physical inactivity is the fourth leading cause of global mortality. Hence, the Physical Activity through Sustainable Transport Approaches (PASTA) study aims to promote active mobility (i.e. walking and cycling) as an innovative measure to increase physical activity levels. Studying the health benefits of an increase in active mobility i...

Background The suitability of transport environments for active mobility (i.e. cycling, walking) depends on its recognition in policy and transport planning processes. While a range of quantitative scores exist to assess cycling and walking environments, to date hardly any scores focus on the qualitative aspects of the policy and social environment...

Reduction of sedentary time and an increase in physical activity offer potential to improve public health. However, quantifying physical activity behaviour under real world conditions is a major challenge and no standard of good practice is available. Our aim was to compare the results of physical activity and sedentary behaviour obtained with a se...

Dataset including the relevant data without demographic information. –Demographic information was not added due to privacy concerns. (XLSX)

Characteristics of volunteers enrolled in 1) the PASTA online survey in all cities 2) the PASTA online survey in Antwerp (ANT), Barcelona (BCN) and London (LDN) only 3) the study using wearables (all participants and each city separately). Physical activity variables of the online survey sample are derived from the GPAQ asking about general behavio...

The Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ). The GPAQ was adjusted to capture information on walking, cycling and e-biking trips separately. (PDF)

Boxplots of MVPA time, moderate time and vigorous time per measurement method and session. Δ = the mean difference between both methods per session (tested for significance using the Wilcoxon signed rank sum test); r = the Spearman correlation coefficient per session; rrm = the overall Spearman correlation adjusted for repeated measures (rm); pΔ(t)...

Sedentary minutes measured by the GPAQ in function of SB measured by the SenseWear. The Spearman correlation coefficients for session 1, session 2 and session 3 are respectively 0.09, 0.25 and 0.24 (overall rrm = 0.12). SW = SenseWear. (PDF)

Bland-Altman plots comparing MVPA, moderate and vigorous time (minutes/week) measured by the SenseWear armband (SW) and the GPAQ. All percentage differences on the Y-axis are calculated by subtracting GPAQ from SenseWear results divided by their average. Moderate and vigorous intensity activities included influential observation. The red, dashed li...

A presentation about a definition of bike-sharing, its state of the art, role of bike-sharing in mobility, challenges and opportunities. I was invited by Claire Papai, chaired by Fanny Paschek and Angela de Carlo presented on Smart Cities and Transport.

Physical activity and ventilation rates have an effect on an individual's dose and may be important to consider in exposure-response relationships; however, these factors are often ignored in environmental epidemiology studies. The aim of this study was to evaluate methods to estimate the inhaled dose of air pollution and understand variability, in...

Main past mistakes when implementing bike-sharing in Spain based on own data analysis of overview of bike-sharing schemes and on-line user survey

Active mobility (AM) is becoming increasingly interesting for cities to address both public health and transport-related challenges, including physical inactivity, air pollution and congestion. The PASTA (Physical Activity through Sustainable Transport Approaches) study collects information on policy context, stakeholder views, determinants, transp...

Background: Public bicycle-sharing initiatives can act as health enhancement strategies among urban populations. The aim of the study was to determine which attitudes and perceptions of behavioural control toward cycling and a bicycle-sharing system distinguish commuters with a different adherence to bicycle commuting. METHODS: The recruitment pro...

Introduction Only one-third of the European population meets the minimum recommended levels of physical activity (PA). Physical inactivity is a major risk factor for non-communicable diseases. Walking and cycling for transport (active mobility, AM) are well suited to provide regular PA. The European research project Physical Activity through Sustai...

This study investigates the representation of behavioural dimensions in energy systems models, such as barriers to energy efficiency and policies to overcome them, as well as behavioural changes such as shifts from private motorised transport to walking, cycling and public transport, which can reduce energy demand. A better understanding of the rol...

Background: Physical inactivity is one of the leading risk factors for non-communicable diseases, yet many are not sufficiently active. The Physical Activity through Sustainable Transport Approaches (PASTA) study aims to better understand active mobility (walking and cycling for transport solely or in combination with public transport) as an innov...

Overview of main features of bike-sharing schemes in Spain in 2014 and evolution in the number of schemes and bicycles (in Spanish).

Active travel (AT), i.e. walking and bicycling, is a promising approach to increase physical activity (PA). Research on determinants of AT is growing and health impact models (HIM) demonstrate benefits of AT. However, substantial research gaps remain.

Background Health impact assessment (HIA) is a combination of methods by which a policy or intervention may be assessed and judged for its potential effects on the health of the population. The HIA is classified in four levels of depth: desk-based, rapid, intermediate and comprehensive. These different levels vary in resources, capacity, duration a...

Text in which the authors draft a futuristic newspaper article related to some aspect of Catalonia's land use planning. The theme of the article is the pedestrianisation of the surroundings of the main square of Barcelona, Plaça Catalunya, and exposes the main benefits of this much-desired futuristic plan. The text is in Catalan.

Compared with work in other European countries, the history of bicycle mobility in Spain is still in its infancy. In pioneering work, some historians have dealt with the nineteenth-century origins of cycling in Spain, particularly its athletic aspects. Other historians have reviewed the main cycling competitions in the country: the Volta a Cataluny...

Cyclists and Cycling Around the World is a visionary book of remarkable breadth, highlighting the increasingly valuable and fascinatingly complex role of the bicycle in contemporary urban life and experience. It contains 25 articles written by leading experts in such fields as, local planning, cycle advocacy and research and is divided into seven c...