Mental barriers in planning for cycling

Abstract

Deriving from extensive analysis of quantitative survey data in Austria, this chapter focuses on the importance that inherited presuppositions play in the processes of planning and implementation. In a majority of European countries, cycling is considered to play a significant role in a sustainable urban transport system, after decades of car dominance captivating the thoughts and actions of decision-makers and thus appears in transport policy documents ranging from local to national level. However, when actual measures are implemented, mental barriers of decision makers surface and this often leads to suboptimal results. Mental barriers are shown most clearly in resistance to innovation adoption, a phenomenon well documented in social science. In this context, the resistance to innovation adoption causes reservations and limiting beliefs that hinder decision-makers in the introduction of suitable solutions for everyday and every-use cycling. The chapter addresses quantitatively two primary questions relating to mental barriers clearly revealed in the analysis of planning processes: of what are mental barriers comprised, and where do they exist? Our quantitative exploration points the way towards two possible approaches to overcome mental barriers: social pressure upon and self-experience by decision-makers.

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