Changing Commutes? Exploring the uptake of cycling to work through an agent-based model focusing on social interactions and social norms

• Start date: 01 January 0001
• End date: 01 January 0001

This study will create a model to improve understanding about how a step-change in cycle commuting in the UK could be achieved. Cycling could bring a number of benefits, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions, while simultaneously improving population health and well-being.

Cycle commuting varies substantially within the UK, with cycling increasing in some areas. However, there is limited evidence on the effectiveness of interventions. Social science can direct attention to how locally specific cultures, identities, and changing social processes, shape commuting.

Agent based models (ABM) have been used to show how complex and recognisable social systems can be generated from small scale interactions. In ABM agents, usually individual people, behave according to specified rules but can also learn through interaction and change how they respond to policies and events.

This study will use qualitative studies to develop rules around how people make commuting choices. The model will be set-up for three English urban areas:

• Chester
• Bristol
• Cambridge.

The agents will be diverse in demographics and attitudes. Data from quantitative studies will be used to represent these populations and test the model’s predictions.