Active mobility, health and traffic safety
Current Projects:
Healthy travelling means being actively mobile. The health benefits of active mobility are primarily generated through exercise, whether walking, cycling or scootering. At the same time, pedestrians and cyclists are particularly sensitive to their (traffic) environment, the desirable characteristics of which are reflected in the indicators of the Healthy Streets approach. These include street safety, green space, quality of life through seating and play areas, shade, good air quality, low noise levels and optimally designed infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists. In its 2024 - 2028 framework work programme, the „Fonds Gesundes Österreich“ has defined the funding priority ‘Healthy Travelling - Active Mobility & Healthy Streets’ in the living environment ‘Municipalities, Cities and Regions’. On the one hand, this is about promoting active mobility in the municipal setting, and on the other hand, the ©Healthy Streets concept is to be pursued or established in the applicant municipalities for the first time in Austria. With quality-assured processes and suitable measures, both approaches can make an essential contribution not only to health promotion, but also to climate protection. The AMOHS project aims to support the funding call, supervise the funded projects and evaluate the processes and measures implemented in the projects. The scientific focus is on evaluation. The question concentrates on the effectiveness of measures to promote active mobility and health promotion with regard to a sustainable change in health and mobility behaviour, as well as on the feasibility and impact of the Healthy Streets approach. In the sense of Third Mission, the project results and lessons learnt will be disseminated not only in the scientific community but also in the municipalities themselves.
At BOKU University, the administrative department for occupational health and safety is responsible for workplace health promotion and healthcare programmes. There is currently no dedicated office or area of responsibility for corporate mobility management. Several organisational units work on parts of the topic of mobility and mobility management, which includes, for example, the BOKU mobility survey, mobility in the BOKU sustainability report, BOKU bikes and business trips. The aim of the project BOKU Mobility4Health is to make existing cooperation visible, pool expertise and initiate the establishment of mobility management with clear responsibilities and to utilise synergies between workplace health promotion and workplace mobility management. In addition to this structural level, which is primarily concerned with processes and structures, concrete mobility measures are to be developed and implemented from which employees benefit directly. Measures to promote active mobility on the way to work are planned in the areas of awareness-raising (lectures, role models, etc.), campaigns, activities and challenges (‚Österreich radelt’, bicycle repair workshops, etc.) and infrastructure (concerning BOKU bikes, labelling of showers, etc.). An evaluation is planned in the form of a follow-up survey. Communication and information play a key role in the project, from communication with BOKU management (health committee), to dialogue in a dedicated committee, to informing employees. Sustainability and health promotion are the overarching goals of the project.