People and Places
The People and Places theme explores how transport and mobility systems shape, and are shaped by, people society and the environments in which we live. Our work integrates social, political, behavioural and design perspectives to understand how policies, technologies, infrastructure and cultural norms influence people’s mobility decisions, opportunities, and experiences, with a shared aim of delivering mobility systems that are effective, fair, and environmentally sustainable.
Research Methods
Working across disciplines, we use a wide range of research methods, from ethnography, policy analysis, and participatory design to data science, simulation and modelling to:
• Understand how transport and mobility systems influence people’s lives and how people’s values, need and behaviour in turn shape these systems
• Examine how policy and governance agendas are formed, negotiated, and implemented across scales and sectors
• Investigate new ways of steering mobility transitions towards socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable futures.
• Developing understanding of how place influences diversity in travel needs, wants and behaviours,
• The role of walking, wheeling, cycling and other micro mobility in sustainable and just mobility systems
Pillars of Inquiry and Impact
• Transitions to low-carbon, active and sustainable mobility: examining how communities and local environments adapts to cleaner transport technologies and active travel initiatives, and how these shifts everyday life across different places.
• Mobility cultures, accessibility and inclusion: investigating how neighbourhood design, social norms and historical planning choices create car-centric places; examining how people with varying mobility needs and capabilities navigate transport systems, and how places can be designed to support accessible, safe and independent mobility across diverse communities.
• Governance, policy processes and infrastructure design: studying how central and local authorities, planners and institutions shape the build environment, and how policies and infrastructure choices influence mobility patterns and choices in cities, towns and rural areas.
• Human factors in mobility: Studying how people behave and make decisions in different travel environment, and how tools such as driver state monitoring, in-vehicle assistance and targeted road-user training can improve safety and interaction between road users.
Current Research Projects
- EDRC: Place Theme
- INFUZE
- TRANSAS - Extention Extension of COVID-19 Transport Travel and Social Adaption Longitudinal Panel Study
- e-SAFE (Equity, Social determinants, Anti-social behaviour, Future E-mobility)
- Autistic Children Matter
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Contact us
Email: k.j.butterworth@leeds.ac.uk