School travel mode choice and the characteristics of the urban built environment: The case of Helsinki, Finland

As observed in several previous studies, the nature of the urban structure can affect children's mode of transportation to school. In this paper, we identify and investigate, in the Finnish context, the elements of the urban structure around homes and en route to school that promote children's ability to walk or cycle to school, using the conceptual domains proposed by Mitra (2013) to frame the work.

The associations discovered can, to a large extent however, be viewed as contrasting significantly with those identified in previous research, as an increase in the variables, essentially indicating urbanity, decreased the likelihood of the children walking or cycling to school. This is due to the existence of a well-functioning public transportation network in the Helsinki region. The associations were more significantly associated with the environment en route to school than with the environment around homes. This research improves our understanding of active school transportation behaviour in an environment that is already relatively supportive of active transportation and independent mobility by offering a well-functioning public transportation system. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.