Sonja Kahlmeier

Swiss Distance University of Applied Science FFHS · Department of Research and Development

Urban green and blue spaces (UGBS) have the potential to improve public health and wellbeing, address health inequities, and provide co-benefits for the environment, economy, and society. To achieve these ambitions, researchers should engage with communities, practitioners, and policy makers in a virtuous circle of research, policy, implementation,...

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...

Introduction In recent years, walking and cycling have moved into the focus as promising approaches to achieve public health, sustainable transport, climate goals and better urban resilience. However, they are only realistic transport and activity options for a large proportion of the population when they are safe, inclusive and convenient. One way...

Physical inactivity is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide. We summarise present global efforts to counteract this problem and point the way forward to address the pandemic of physical inactivity. Although evidence for the benefits of physical activity for health has been available since the 1950s, promotion to improve the health of populat...

Physical activity guidelines are recognized as an important element of a national approach to promote physical activity. This publication summarizes the approach and process taken to update the Swiss Guidelines, presents a summary of the updated guidelines and discusses experiences and identifies challenges. The multistage project involved: 1) to s...

Purpose Urban mobility can have detrimental impacts on health and quality of life, but can also be an opportunity for health promotion, e.g. through walking and cycling. While health impacts of transport are well known, the extent to which health is considered in mobility plans is less obvious. European cities are strongly encouraged to develop Sus...

The key message surrounding the issue of updating the Swiss PA guidelines and aligning them with the WHO guidelines is clear: a consistent, evidence-based approach to promoting PA is crucial to improving public health. By aligning with global recommendations, Switzerland not only ensures that its citizens receive the most up-to-date guidance, but a...

Commissioned by the European Public Health Alliance, this report sheds light on the current state of health considerations within Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs). It emphasises that the mere presence of health concepts in SUMPs does not guarantee effective improvement in health outcomes. The report suggests that a thorough analysis of the...

Zusammenfassung Städte und Gemeinden bilden komplexe Mikrokosmen, in denen Menschen mit sehr unterschiedlichen Bedürfnissen und Möglichkeiten leben. Die bauliche Gestalt und die Funktionalität städtischer Räume haben einen signifikanten Einfluss auf die individuelle Mobilität und damit auf die Gesundheit und Lebensqualität der gesamten Bevölkerung....

Purpose There are many interesting sports promotion interventions in European countries. Which ones are effective and can serve as good practice examples among children and adolescents? What should be considered when policies or programmes are transferred to other countries? This study has examined sports promotion interventions of seven European c...

Physical activity guidelines are recognized as an important element of a national approach to promote physical activity. This publication summarizes the approach and process taken to update the Swiss Guidelines, discusses experiences and identifies challenges. The multistage project involved to: 1) summarize the scientific evidence underpinning the...

Purpose Which flagship sport promotion interventions for young people exist in different European countries and what could other countries gain from knowing about them? This symposium gives an overview of effective sport promotion interventions in seven European countries and presents and discusses selected promising interventions and programmes....

Das Netzwerk möglicher Wirkungspfade zwischen Landschaft, Grünräumen und Gesundheit ist vielfältig und komplex und wird erst seit weniger als 20 Jahren umfassend untersucht. Bewegung ist ein möglicher, wichtiger Wirkungsweg. Der genaue Einfluss in der Grünraum-Gesundheitsbeziehung ist jedoch noch nicht restlos geklärt. Auch zu den wirkungsvollsten...

“Nudge” policies are increasingly popular, seeking to modify health-related decisions by affecting response to available options. Thus, critical appraisals of the effectiveness of health-related nudging interventions could help health policy makers in making evidence-based decisions with regards to which of these interventions should be incorporate...

Objectives The widely used World Health Organization (WHO) Health Economic Assessment Tool (HEAT) for walking and cycling quantifies health impacts in terms of premature deaths avoided or caused as a result of changes in active transport. This article attempts to assess the effect of incorporating ‘life-years’ as an impact measure to increase the p...

The aim of this document is to offer guidance for the estimation of the economic benefits of walking and cycling using the World Health Organization’s Heath Economic Assessment Tool (HEAT). The document aims to complement existing HEAT materials which include a comprehensive user guide, free online training and the tool itself, which can be accesse...

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...

The World Health Organization’s Health Economic Assessment Tool (HEAT) for walking and cycling is a user-friendly web-based tool to assess the health impacts of active travel. HEAT, developed over 10 years ago, has been used by researchers, planners and policymakers alike in appraisals of walking and cycling policies at both national and more local...

Policy is a powerful tool used to influence physical activity levels of populations. The World Health Organisation has specifically acknowledged the role of local governments in developing policies to promote Health-Enhancing Physical Activity (HEPA). However, scientific knowledge remains scant about the involvement of local governmental HEPA promo...

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...

The health economic assessment tool (HEAT) for walking and cycling has been developed as a user-friendly yet robust tool for transport and urban planners allowing the inclusion of physical activity benefits in transport appraisals. The most recent version can now also consider how much road crashes and air pollution affect these results, and what t...

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...

Background: Policy analysis is considered essential for achieving successful reforms in health promotion and public health. The only framework for physical activity (PA) policy analysis was developed at a time when the field of PA policy research was in its early stages. PA policy research has since grown, and our understanding of what elements ne...

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-...

It has been several years now that research coming from various disciplines such as sports science, medicine, urban planning and transport planning has provided strong evidence that sustainable urban mobility (SUM) is not only beneficial to the function of the city but to the human body too. As SUM includes not merely public transport but physical...

It has been several years now that research coming from various disciplines such as sports science, medicine, urban planning and transport planning has provided strong evidence that sustainable urban mobility (SUM) is not only beneficial to the function of the city but to the human body too. As SUM includes not merely public transport but physical...

Background National policy approaches to physical activity (PA) promotion and sedentary behaviour (SB) reduction are needed to address rising rates of non-communicable diseases. Understanding the policy process and impact through robust research and evaluation is crucial for facilitating successful reforms in national health policy. This scoping re...

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: 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...

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...

This study aims to present information on the surveillance, policy developments, and implementation of physical activity policies in the 28 European Union (EU) countries. Data was collected on the implementation of the EU Recommendation on health-enhancing physical activity (HEPA) across sectors. In line with the monitoring framework proposed in th...

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...

We conducted a health impact assessment (HIA) of cycling network expansions in seven European cities. We modeled the association between cycling network length and cycling mode share and estimated health impacts of the expansion of cycling networks. First, we performed a non-linear least square regression to assess the relationship between cycling...

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 PASTA (Physical-Activity-through-Sustainable-Transport-Approaches) is a European project that aims to promote and assess active travel and develops a new comprehensive Health Impact Assessment (HIA) model for active travel (AT). Objective: Describe the HIA approach used in the PASTA project. Methods Conduct workshops and individual inte...

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...

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...

We conducted a health impact assessment (HIA) of cycling network expansions in seven European cities. We modeled the association between cycling network length and cycling mode share and estimated health impacts of the expansion of cycling networks. First, we performed a non-linear least square regression to assess the relationship between cycling...

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...

The HEAT 4.0 methods and user guide on physical activity, air pollution, injuries and carbon impact assessments

Supporting Policy and Action for Active Environments (SPAcE) is a collaborative three year project co-funded by the Sport: Collaborative Partnerships action of the Erasmus+ Programme. The project links together 10 project partners from 8 different EU countries to achieve the objective of developing sustainable active urban environments in cities...

Supporting Policy and Action for Active Environments (SPAcE) was a three year project co-funded by the “Sport: Collaborative Partnerships” of the Erasmus+ Programme (2015-2017). The project linked together 10 project partners from 8 different EU countries to achieve the objective of developing sustainable active urban environments in cities and t...

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...

Abstract Introduction: PASTA (Physical-Activity-through-Sustainable-Transport-Approaches) is a European project that aims to promote and assess active travel and develops a new comprehensive Health Impact Assessment (HIA) model for active travel (AT). Methods: Conduct workshops and individual interviews with experts and stakeholders in seven study...

Active travel (cycling, walking) is beneficial for the health due to increased physical activity (PA). However, active travel may increase the intake of air pollution, leading to negative health consequences. We examined the risk–benefit balance between active travel related PA and exposure to air pollution across a range of air pollution and PA sc...

Background: Active travel (cycling, walking) is beneficial for health due to increased physical activity. However, active travel may increase the intake of air pollution, leading to negative health consequences. We examined the risk-benefit balance between active travel related physical activity and exposure to air pollution across a range of air p...