Cycling and Sustainability PDF

How cycling increases a
cities sustainability

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Background..................................................................................................................................2
Aim and objectives......................................................................................................................3
Research questions.......................................................................................................................3
Rational........................................................................................................................................3
Significance.................................................................................................................................3
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Recently, pollution has increased to a great extent. Due to rise in pollution level, global
warming is increasing year by year. The main reasons are rise in air, water pollution, etc. Now,
it is essential to take strict measures to minimise it. With rise in number of vehicles each year
CO2 emissions is increasing. The mode of transport is changing. With introduction of CNG and
electric vehicles efforts are made to develop sustainability. Some other measures are taken as
well which are resulting in sustainability (Clayton & Radcliffe, 2018). The transport sector
accounts for one third of CO2 emissions. It is analysed that in Europe around 30% cars covers
distance of 3 kilometres. Now, cities are making efforts to reduce emission of CO2 by
implementing policies. There is need to curb use of cars and others vehicles. For this active
transportation is promoted. In this the forms of transportation are walking and cycling. In Europe
bike sharing scheme is becoming popular these days in urban areas. Through this, people use
bicycles to travel from other place to another. Usually, bicycles are used for short distance. Thus,
it enables in decrease in CO2 emissions.
There are many benefits of using cycling such as health, environmental, economic, etc. In
context of environment cycling is pollution free mode of transport. It is said that cycling each
day around 10 km saves up to 1500 kg green house emission each year. Besides this, it
contributes in reducing further emissions in congestion and improving traffic flow. The
economic benefit of cycling is it is a very low cost mode of transport. Moreover, it requires less
maintenance as compared to any other vehicle. It saves cost of £1700 per year including running
and depreciation cost. Furthermore, bicycle is convenient and accessible than car parking.
Another contribution of cycling in sustainability is it improvises transport system. This means it
minimises flow of traffic in urban areas (Epstein, 2018). This supports in providing green
atmosphere by improving the surroundings of that area. A 50% increase on current cycling rates
would unlock more than £1.3bn, by reducing the costs of congestion, pollution and healthcare.
In recent times, developing a sustainable environment has emerged rapidly in many
countries. It has shifted the focus of government to develop a sustainable atmosphere by taking
effective measures. There are many new concepts implemented in order to do so. For example-
green building sustainability, green economy, etc. these all concepts are highly contributing in
technological development. But in priority is been given in transportation sector. Here, bicycles
1

are used to develop sustainability. This is done to decrease number of vehicles and manage
traffic.
Background
In many cities of Europe there is cycling boom. There is high growth in use of bicycles as
means of daily travel. Most of the youth in western countries prefer to go to school on bicycles.
Moreover, due to rise in health problems due to physical inactivity, people are using bicycle
instead of cars. So , automatically CO2 emissions are reduced. In many countries use of cycles
have successfully helped in developing green atmosphere. Countries like USA, Germany,
Denmark, Sweden, etc. are using cycles as mode of transport. There are different facilities
provided as well which support in sustainability. It improves air quality as it is low embodied
energy. This is zero emission mode of transport (Voß & Kemp, 2015). It also reduces noise
pollution that is occurred from other vehicles. However, a city that depends on bicycles more
than other automated forms of transportation will require less energy, emit less carbon, and make
less noise. There is optimum utilization of resources making it efficient. When bicycles are
replaced with diesel and petrol vehicles it is easy to reduce pollution. When one zone becomes
pollution free then automatically it leads towards a pollution free city. They are transformed into
sustainability.
Cycling is a mode of transport which does not use any fuel. It is low cost and provides
many environmental benefits. Recently, with concerns over climate change, congestion, etc.
cities throughout the world are introducing many policies to promote cycling. Also, efforts are
been made to allow residents to use bicycles as mode of transport. Now, people are also aware
about sustainability. It is also a major concern for them. They are using bicycles for travelling.
Along with it, with rise in health issues cycling is resulting in resolving problems related to
health. Now, people consider this as physical exercise. A person making the average daily
commute of four miles each way would save half a ton of carbon dioxide per year if they
switched from driving to cycling per year (Abson & et.al. (2017). If the UK doubled cycle use
by switching from cars, this would reduce Britain's total greenhouse emissions by 0.6m ton,
almost as much as switching all London to Scotland air travel to rail.
2