Promoting Independent Cycling for Enhancing Later Life Experience and Social Synergy through Design (PrICELESS Design)

骑自行车可以通过提供一种积极的独立流动手段，与社区联系并参与社会活动，从而有助于老年人的身心健康和福祉。但在荷兰，65岁及以上的人骑自行车出行的比例为23%，丹麦为15%，德国为9%，而在英国，骑自行车出行的比例仅为1%。这项研究的前提是，英国的老年人经常被描绘成缺乏骑自行车能力的公民，这转化为设计指导，未能考虑如何改造建筑环境，以支持老龄化人口中的骑自行车。随着人们年龄的增长，骑自行车变得更具挑战性，迫使许多人停止。有些人确实适应了不断变化的身体环境，并在老年时继续骑自行车。然而，许多人缺乏骑自行车的愿望，因为在不支持的环境中骑自行车有风险，而且担心人身伤害。改善自行车基础设施的项目，加上电动自行车等辅助技术的增加，可以在为老年人创造机会重新骑自行车或防止他们放弃方面发挥重要作用。这项研究的目的是更好地了解建筑环境和技术设计如何塑造老年人骑自行车的意愿和能力，他们在骑自行车时如何互动和体验建筑环境，以及这如何影响他们的健康。注意力将集中在不同尺度的设计元素上，从建筑物到社区，再到更广泛的城镇网络，以及自行车技术和设备。该研究将调查欧盟各地旨在促进老年人更包容性的骑自行车的政策、方案和指导，并将其与英国的活动进行比较。一系列现有的英国数据来源将进行分析，以确定在整个英国骑自行车的参与趋势，以及最近的项目和方案在多大程度上鼓励老年人骑自行车。一个创新的方法来了解在建筑环境和福祉之间的关系将用于居民接近晚年（50 - 59岁）和晚年（60岁以上）在整个布里斯托，牛津，阅读和南安普顿地区。一、传记（"骑自行车生活史"）进行访谈，以了解过去骑自行车经历的作用，以及家庭和社会关系、就业以及更广泛的社会、经济、环境和技术变革等生活事件的影响;第二、在参与者定期骑车旅行时，将对他们进行移动的采访和观察，以记录他们的日常经历第三，新的和返回的老年自行车用户将被邀请参加一个独特的8周的实验，以衡量他们如何（重新）参与传统和电动自行车在建筑环境中影响他们的身心健康。将利用一个包含定性（文本、制图、视频）和定量（福祉的数字衡量）数据的丰富数据集，开发一个工具包，供决策者和从业人员使用。这将建议如何设计建筑环境和技术，以支持和促进当前和未来的老年人骑自行车，并提供如何改善独立自行车流动性和健康和福祉的证据。该工具包将包括与设计指南相联系的简报和一个记录录像，与研究参与者一起制作，直接分发给决策者、从业人员和利益攸关方，并在网上提供，以产生最大的影响。

Cycling can contribute to physical and mental health and wellbeing among the older population by providing an active means of independent mobility to connect with the community and engage in social activities. But whilst cycling accounts for 23 per cent of all journeys for people aged 65 and older in the Netherlands, 15 per cent in Denmark and 9 per cent in Germany, it represents only 1 per cent of all journeys in the UK. This research starts from the premise that older people in the UK are often portrayed as citizens who lack the capacity to cycle and that this translates into design guidance that fails to consider how the built environment could be transformed to support cycling amongst an ageing population.As people age, cycling becomes more physically challenging, forcing many to stop. Some people do adapt to changing physical circumstances and continue to cycle in older age. However, many lack the desire to cycle because of risks associated with its practice in an unsupportive environment and fear of personal injury. Projects to improve cycle infrastructure coupled with the growth in availability of assistive technologies such as electric bicycles ('e-bikes') could have a significant role in creating opportunities for older people to return to cycling or prevent them from giving up. The aim of this research is to better understand how built environment and technological design is shaping the willingness and ability of older people to cycle, how they interact and experience the built environment when cycling, and how this affects their wellbeing. Attention will focus on elements of design at different scales from buildings, to neighbourhoods, to wider town networks and also on bicycle technology and equipment. The research will investigate the range of policies and programmes and guidance available across the EU targeted at promoting more inclusive cycling amongst the older population and compare this with activity in the UK. A range of existing UK data sources will be analysed to identify trends in participation in cycling across the in the UK and the extent to which recent projects and programmes are encouraging older people to cycle. A mix of innovative methods to understand the relationship between cycling in the built environment and wellbeing will be used with residents approaching later life (aged 50-59) and in later life (60+) across the Bristol, Oxford, Reading and Southampton areas. First, biographic ('cycling life-history') interviews will be conducted in order to understand the role of past experiences of cycling and the influence of life events such as family and social relationships, employment and wider social, economic, environmental and technological change; Second, mobile interviews and observation will be conducted with participants as they make a regular journey by cycle in order to capture their everyday experience of cycling and to measure how interaction with the built environment affects mental physical and mental wellbeing; Third, new and returning older cycle users will be invited to take part in a unique 8-week experiment to measure how their (re)engagement with both conventional and electric cycling in the built environment affects their physical and mental wellbeing. A rich dataset incorporating qualitative (textual, cartographic, video) and quantitative (numerical measures of wellbeing) data will be used to develop a toolkit for use by policy makers and practitioners. This will advise how the built environment and technology could be designed to support and promote cycling amongst current and future older generations and provide evidence of how this could improve independent cycling mobility and health and wellbeing. The toolkit will include briefing notes linked to design guidance and a documentary video, made with participants of the study, distributed directly to policy makers, practitioners and stakeholder and made available on the Web with the aim of generating maximum impact.