About the project
E-scooters pose a significant public health risk and may increase health inequalities. This study will critically evaluate e-scooter usage, linking user data with health, environmental, demographic, and economic factors. Synthesising qualitative insights and quantitative models, it aims to contrast user patterns with industry claims, mapping e-scooter hubs against deprivation indices.
This project will provide a comprehensive evaluation of e-scooter usage, critically examining its impacts on health, the environment, and equity. Employing diverse methods, this research aims to determine the true benefits and harms of e-scooter use beyond industry claims.
The interdisciplinary approach integrates expertise in transport systems, public health, health inequalities, urban planning, and operational research. Supervised by experts embedded in the Centre for Operational Research, Management Science and Information Systems (CORMSIS), and Health Sciences, the student will gain experience across these disciplines. The student will also be supported to collaborate with stakeholders in the local authorities to ensure practical co-designed solutions.
Methods
- Data-Driven Insights: Data-Driven Insights: Mapping e-scooter hub locations against demographic and deprivation indices to assess deployment strategies’ influence on use and health inequalities.
- Operational Research Modelling: Co-develop tools for better resource allocation and planning, addressing logistical constraints, mitigating negative impacts, promoting sustainable travel, and evaluating carbon footprints.
- Health Impact Analysis: Evaluate e-scooter’s role in reducing physical activity and exacerbating health disparities, particularly in vulnerable populations, through utilising public health data, ethnographic and qualitative methods to explore user motivations, perceptions of health and environmental impacts, and socio-economic links to e-scooter adoption.
Impact
The findings will be of significant interest to stakeholders interested in urban mobility, health equity, and sustainability. By offering a critical evaluation of e-scooter systems, this project has the potential to inform policies and reshape micro-mobility integration in urban environments, fostering more equitable, healthy, sustainable, and resilient systems.
