Climate, Weather and Daily Mobility: Transport Mode Choices and Travel Experiences in the Randstad Holland

Intuitively, weather plays an important role in everyday mobility. How often do we not expose ourselves to cold, heat, sun, rain, snow or wind when we are travelling on foot or by bicycle; waiting at a bus stop; walking towards a parked car; or driving under slippery road conditions. Recently, weather has also emerged as an important policy aspect, with climate change, urban microclimates, health, accessibility, liveability and subsequent aims to reduce car mobility and promote healthy but weather-exposed active transport modes and physical activities high on the agenda. Yet, although the infl... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Böcker, L.
Dokumenttyp: Dissertation
Erscheinungsdatum: 2014
Verlag/Hrsg.: Utrecht University
Schlagwörter: climate change / weather / transport / mode choice / thermal comfort / emotion
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-27115394
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/315942

Intuitively, weather plays an important role in everyday mobility. How often do we not expose ourselves to cold, heat, sun, rain, snow or wind when we are travelling on foot or by bicycle; waiting at a bus stop; walking towards a parked car; or driving under slippery road conditions. Recently, weather has also emerged as an important policy aspect, with climate change, urban microclimates, health, accessibility, liveability and subsequent aims to reduce car mobility and promote healthy but weather-exposed active transport modes and physical activities high on the agenda. Yet, although the influence of weather on daily mobility in everyday life has been pervasive and its societal relevance never more pronounced, scientific debate on the relationships between climate, weather and transport has so far largely been focused on the effects of extreme weather events on road, air or rail infrastructure maintenance, accident rates and traffic flows. In contrast, we still know much less about how climate and weather shape individual mobility in everyday life. It is the aim of this thesis to develop a comprehensive understanding of the impact of current and projected weather on mobility choices and of subjective experiences of weather, place and emotions during daily mobility in the Randstad Holland. Hereto, first, a systematic review of the existing literature reveals that rain, snow, cloudy, windy, cold and hot weather negatively affect outdoors activities and active transport mode usages. However, several important discrepancies, shortcomings and climate-related geographical differences are identified. Second, a climate change analysis on existing Dutch National Travel survey data for the Randstad Holland, reveals a projected increase in active over motorised transport mode shares and distances year-round for milder 2050-winters, but opposite effects for hotter 2050-summers. Third, a daily weather analysis on purposely-designed Greater Rotterdam travel diary data (n=945) reveals linear negative effects of precipitation ...