Mental barriers in planning for cycling along the urban–rural gradient

Abstract

As studying planning practices and planners’ motivations along the urban–rural gradient has not been common practice, we scrutinize the regional differences in the understanding of cycling planning of Austrian municipal administrators using three questions from a previous on-purpose survey. These questions serve as simple proxies for decisions that need to be made from the perspective of a climate change mitigation-driven transformation of transport planning. The administrators were asked (1) to rank the priorities for transport modes in the case of conflict of space allocation, (2) to name the quantity of bicycle parking provision in projects, and (3) to mark pictures of bicycle parking stands they consider fulfilling the needs of cyclists. The chosen priorities indicate that traditional understanding and mental barriers persist among administrators in an urban–rural gradient. In urban as well as rural areas administrators in charge of cycling planning, still prioritize cars (in terms of infrastructure and space) over bicycles. And up to one quarter of responses – from urban as well as rural municipalities – state that they don’t know if the amount of bicycle parking spaces provided meets legal requirements or exceeds them. These mental barriers need to be overcome for an improved and accelerated introduction of necessary cycling policies.