The impact of urban features in cycling potential – A tale of Portuguese cities

While the bicycle is commonly understood as a suitable alternative to fulfil most of urban mobility needs, adoption rates of this transport mode vary considerably among urban areas. Those at early stages of adoption, identified as starter cycling cities, face numerous challenges, reducing the effectiveness of policies and strategies. Much research has been dedicated at identifying social and physical environment conditions favouring the use of the bicycle. Assuming cycling potential results of a good combination of physical and socio-demographic factors, we set out to identify dominant contexts generating high levels of cycling potential. The previously developed Gross Potential for Cycling is applied to 21 Portuguese municipalities of different spatial contexts. By looking at the particularities of different typologies of urban territories, a set of k-means clustering analyses investigates which combination of factors contribute to the establishment of a high cycling potential.

The results indicate that, in the set of case studies, high accessibility to schools and urban centralities are common in high cycling potential areas, regardless of spatial context. Three clusters were identified from the combination of the age profile of residents and the connectivity features of the territory, defining the main typologies of high cycling potential areas. As different urban typologies pose distinct configurations on the performance of the different evaluated indicators, these outcomes are crucial to inform policy makers on where to prioritize investment for the establishment of a new cycling culture.