Members’ Publication

In recent years, Bangladesh has started moving its transportation vision towards achieving sustainability goals such as increasing bicycle infrastructure, sidewalks, reducing air pollution, etc. To contribute to the ongoing discussion, we explored factors that influence the use of bicycles for different trip purposes in Rajshahi, a medium-sized city in Bangladesh. A face-to-face household survey was conducted to collect individuals’ socio-demographic characteristics, their travel patterns for different trip purposes, and perceptions of the built environment. We developed four Integrated Choice and Latent Variable (ICLV) models to understand the influence of latent perceptions on bicycling for commuting and non-commuting (i.e., grocery shopping, going for tea, and recreational) trips. The analysis indicates that women are more likely to choose a bike for commuting trips but are less likely to use bikes for recreational trips. The results also show that the choice of commuting by bicycle is positively associated with commuting distance and negatively associated with residential land use. Walkability perception has a significant positive association with the choice of bikes for commuting and non-commuting trips. Road safety perception for active travel is positively associated with bike choice for recreational trips, and crime perception of the neighborhood is negatively associated with bike choice for grocery trips. The results from this study will be helpful for policymakers to understand and improve the built environment to attract individuals towards bike use.

This book critically examines different forms of urban-rural links for sustainable development in different countries. As intertwined processes of globalization, digitalization, environmental challenges and the search for sustainable development continue, rural and urban areas around the world become increasingly interconnected and interdependent. This book contributes to understanding the role of this growing interconnectedness from an economic geographical perspective. It does so by theoretically and empirically addressing the various existing linkages, such as food networks, value chains, and regional governance at local, regional, national and international levels. In doing so, contributions extend and contrast existing approaches dealing with urban and rural areas separately by considering the interplay between these two as well as their consequences for sustainability transition pathways. This edited volume adds to the academic and policy debate by bringing together a variety of concepts and themes in order to shift the research and policy agenda away from simple dichotomy to different notions of rural-urban linkages. Offering multidisciplinary insights into rural-urban linkages, the book will be of interest to decision-makers, practitioners and researchers in the fields of economic geography, regional planning, food studies and economics.

Perceptions of the walking environment can encourage or discourage walking for transport. However, the influence of the built environment (BE) on pedestrians’ perceptions of the walking environment has not been fully understood. To address this gap, the present research investigates how BE characteristics of a suburban walking environment are associated with the perceptions of attractiveness (i.e., pleasantness, friendliness), safety, and security. Using a cross-sectional design, 995 participants reported their perceptions about the attractiveness, safety, and security of different suburban BE scenarios in Brisbane (Australia). Univariate and bivariate random effect ordered probit models were estimated to identify the associations between BE characteristics and perceived attractiveness, safety, and security whilst controlling for psychosocial factors. Results indicated that perceived attractiveness (i.e., pleasantness and friendliness) was higher for recreational areas than residential land use. Women perceived the walking environment as more pleasant with trees. The perception of safety was higher for recreational and vacant land compared to residential areas. Young pedestrians perceived that the likelihood of being assaulted/robbed/harassed at night was lower if they walked through an area with commercial and mixed land use. Women pedestrians perceived that the corresponding risk at night was higher in recreational areas. Overall, the findings suggest that urban design strategies such as increasing land use diversity and providing adequate trees enhance perceived environmental attractiveness, safety, and security, ultimately resulting in more walking for transport.

Changes in land use/land cover (LULC) and land surface temperatures (LST) contribute significantly to the formation and intensity of urban heat islands (UHI) effects. The urban thermal field variance index (UTFVI) can effectively describe any city's UHI (thermal characteristics) effect. This study aims to assess and predict the seasonal (summer and winter) UTFVI scenario to evaluate the thermal characteristics of Sylhet city, Bangladesh. Landsat 4–5 TM and 8 OLI images from 1995 to 2020 were used to assess the previous status of LULC and UTFVI and predict the future changes for 2025 and 2030 using cellular automata and artificial neural network machine learning algorithms. Prediction results indicate a substantial increase in urban built-up areas by 42% and 44% in 2025 and 2035, followed by reductions in green cover (21% and 22%), bare land (20% and 21%) and water bodies (1%). The rapid expansion of built-up areas will lead to 13 km2 and 14 km2 stronger UTFVI zones in the predicted years. The study provides effective strategies for mitigating the UTFVI effects by avoiding dense infrastructural development, increasing plantation and water bodies, rooftop gardening and using white colour roofs in construction. The findings of this study will allow the urban planners, policymakers and local government to ensure an eco-friendly, inclusive and sustainable urban development through functional modification and replacement of the LULC distribution depending on the present and future circumstances.