Citation

Musselwhite C. J. Transp. Health 2023; 30: e101621.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jth.2023.101621

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The growing community health movement is about applying global public and medical health expertise and resources to localised issues, utilising local community knowledge, expertise and understanding. The aim is to provide equity of care, particularly to communities who might be marginalised, through collaborative partnerships and initiatives, to ensure delivery is based on community need. At the heart of such an approach is co-production, especially co-designing public health and medical interventions with health professionals working alongside local expertise and knowledge, co-learning and building trust to make sure the delivery is appropriate, timely and accepted. This approach suggests interventions aimed at improving health resulting from transport for marginalised groups, especially groups who are unable to meet the demands of a hypermobile society, should be community focussed and co-developed. Taking a community-based lens to transport and mobility, suggests provision for community is tailored to that community and moves beyond provision at a macro-level and looks at local solutions.

In this context community may be defined as any community that has an issue associated with transport, or health and wellbeing or both. For example, it might be a geographically defined community such as a local town, village or street, and/or a community defined by socio-demographics or background, for example age gender, sexual orientation and/or by mode of transport (cyclists, pedestrians etc.) As an example, a local school working with local planners to co-create active travel access to the premises could help sustain healthy lifestyles, especially for students during adolescence where physical activity tends to reduce (Van Sluijs et al., 2021). As noted by Hunter et al. (2023) higher recreation, park, and retail densities maintain the likelihood of active travel to school (though not always from it) as physical activity declines in adolescence. In addition, they found students attending schools in very walkable areas experienced an increased likelihood of active travel both to and from school over time.

Language: en