Integrated Impact Assessment of Active Travel: Expanding the Scope of the Health Economic Assessment Tool (HEAT) for Walking and Cycling

Thomas Götschi, Sonja Kahlmeier, Alberto Castro, Christian Brand, Nick Cavill, Paul Kelly, Christoph Lieb, David Rojas-Rueda, James Woodcock and Francesca Racioppi
Additional contact information
Thomas Götschi: School of Planning, Public Policy and Management, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA
Sonja Kahlmeier: Department of Health, Swiss Distance University of Applied Science (FFHS), CH-8105 Regensdorf, Switzerland
Alberto Castro: Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute, University of Zurich, CH-8001 Zurich, Switzerland
Christian Brand: Transport Studies Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK
Nick Cavill: Centre for Exercise, Nutrition & Health Sciences, School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TZ, UK
Paul Kelly: Physical Activity for Health Research Centre, Institute of Sport, Physical Education and Health Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Holyrood Road, Edinburgh EH8 8AQ, UK
Christoph Lieb: Ecoplan AG, CH-3011 Bern, Switzerland
David Rojas-Rueda: Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
James Woodcock: Centre for Diet and Activity Research (CEDAR), MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Cambridge CB2 0QQ, UK
Francesca Racioppi: WHO European Centre for Environment and Health, Platz der Vereinten Nationen 1, 53113 Bonn, Germany

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 20, 1-19

Abstract: The World Health Organization’s Health Economic Assessment Tool (HEAT) for walking and cycling is a user-friendly web-based tool to assess the health impacts of active travel. HEAT, developed over 10 years ago, has been used by researchers, planners and policymakers alike in appraisals of walking and cycling policies at both national and more local scales. HEAT has undergone regular upgrades adopting the latest scientific evidence. This article presents the most recent upgrades of the tool. The health impacts of walking and/or cycling in a specified population are quantified in terms of premature deaths avoided (or caused). In addition to the calculation of benefits derived from physical activity, HEAT was recently expanded to include assessments of the burden associated with air pollution exposure and crash risks while walking or cycling. Further, the impacts on carbon emissions from mode shifts to active travel modes can now be assessed. The monetization of impacts using Value of Statistical Life and Social Costs of Carbon now uses country-specific values. As active travel inherently results in often substantial health benefits as well as not always negligible risks, assessments of active travel behavior or policies are incomplete without considering health implications. The recent developments of HEAT make it easier than ever to obtain ballpark estimates of health impacts and carbon emissions related to walking and cycling.

Keywords: active transportation; health impact assessment; physical activity; air pollution; traffic safety; carbon emissions; monetization; online tool (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/20/7361/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/20/7361/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:20:p:7361-:d:425339

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().