Overcoming the tyranny of distance: making walking and cycling possible and preferable

When intervening in the built environment, change is made not only to the physical environment, but also to the way people see their surroundings and the perceived opportunities that are available or denied to them. These interpretations may be unexpected and the infrastructure provided to enable people to undertake an activity (such as walking or cycling to public transport) may fail to facilitate that goal. It may even prove counterproductive. It may be quantitatively adequate but qualitatively inadequate. Consequently this paper looks beyond the output of such work to consider the outcome on the way people see their surroundings and the figurative doors it opens and closes for them. To this end, this paper suggests some of the subjective, qualitative aspects of people's surroundings that can reduce the ‘resistance’ of the built environment to walking and cycling in order to make it easier for people to decide to walk or cycle to use public transport, and in this way to help make active transport not just possible but preferable.