In many ways, driving is the unhealthiest way of commuting. It’s sedentary, while even taking public transit requires people to walk, sometimes run, to the nearest stop. It’s bad for the planet. But ironically, compared to people cycling, walking or e-scootering along the same busy roads, drivers are somewhat protected from the large amount of emissions their cars produce. Something needs to be done about that, says Associate Professor Kim Dirks of the University of Auckland.

Dirks is a member of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, but she got there through a circuitous route. Originally trained in physics and meteorology, she focused on air pollution modelling for her PhD. Then she took a job at the University of Auckland’s Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences and turned to researching the population health impacts of air pollution.

The more Dirks learned, the more she realised the important role urban infrastructure plays.

“You can measure and model air pollution concentrations at particular points in a city, but what does that actually mean for individuals as they go about their daily routines?” says Dirks. “People spend time inside, outside, commuting, engaging in sport. The urban infrastructure influences how people spend their time and move about. At a medical faculty, I was able to come up with ways to improve people’s health, but it was much more difficult to influence the decisions being made about the provision of infrastructure.”

The thing about air pollution is that it’s very localised. If one side of a road is bumper-to-bumper, simply crossing the street to the less congested side can lower your exposure. Barriers also help. In a study Dirks undertook that had cyclists riding down a bike path next to a motorway, pollution exposure was found to reduce significantly where there were fences, trees or hedges separating the motorway and the cycleway.

Pollution exposure, however, is far from the only consideration for people making choices about transportation. Safety is also an important factor. If the less busy side of a road has more intersections, poor visibility or a lack of sidewalks, pedestrians aren’t going to choose it even if air quality is better. Safety is an especially important concern when choosing walk-to-school routes for children.

Safety concerns are also a major factor holding back more people from cycling. Where there are no bike lanes, cyclists have to share space with cars. Even where there are painted cycle lanes, drivers often park in them, sometimes opening car doors into cyclists. Dedicated and separated lanes go a long way in improving safety and thereby encouraging people to cycle or use e-scooters, skateboards and the like, says Dirks.

Dirks speaks from personal experience. Since the new cycleway along Tamaki Drive was completed, she has started cycling it almost daily even though it’s longer than the more direct on-road route. The safer route, however, is only part of what is making it easier for her to cycle. The other factor is her new e-bike.

With some of her students, Dirks is now running a survey on the enablers and barriers to cycling in Auckland, especially in relation to the provision of infrastructure.

She and her students will compare their results to findings from a similar survey conducted by a colleague 10 years ago. They expect the comparison to reveal changes to attitudes and infrastructure, as well as developments such as increased use of e-bikes.

They hope to present their findings to Auckland Council, because councillors are the ones who can make policy decision that nudge people out of their cars.

“The more people cycle, the less people drive, which reduces congestion,” says Dirks.

Dirks’ research also considers the links between health and infrastructure in dimensions other than transportation.

For example, she’s examining how to densify cities, which can reduce commuting distances and infrastructure costs, while still providing quality access to green space, which she says has environmental and health benefits so marked that simply providing nature views from hospital rooms can speed recovery.

Because her research is so multidisciplinary, Dirks is ideally placed to bring people together to examine urban infrastructure from all angles.

So, with Kobus van Zyl, who is Watercare Chair in Infrastructure, she’s doing just that.