Concepts, reflections and applications of social equity: approaches to accessibility to primary goods and services in the region of Flanders, Belgium

Mobility presents a variety of opportunities as it allows users to access locations and services, and to meet people beyond their immediate surroundings. While the concept of mobility primarily focuses on the ease of moving, accessibility delineates the actual potential to participate in out-of-home activities. As a result, accessibility is a complex concept with a multitude of foci. This complexity is presented in the first section, which explains the general concept of accessibility, how it is defined and how it is related to the notion of transport-related exclusion. This section also gives an overview of the body of literature on the measures to determine area-based as well as personal accessibility levels and points out the important contrast between the simple, easy-to-interpret methods, adopted by policy makers and the complex methods preferred by experts. The second section clarifies how the dichotomous relationship between the urban and rural environment is reflected in transport policy that emphasizes on (especially car-based) mobility rather than on accessibility. Furthermore, the environmental and economic points of view are highlighted and the common policy strategies focused on sustainability are illustrated. Subsequently, the shortcomings in the way in which the contemporary debates concerning mobility, sustainability and the social implications of transport planning are conducted, are criticized. Finally, the last part of this section is dedicated to an extensive discussion on the ability of transport policies to, on the one hand, generate spatially as well as temporally uneven accessibility effects that give preference to certain population groups above others, and on the other hand, their ability to strive for a more equitable distribution of transport services amongst the population. The third section proposes two methodologies for measuring transport-related social exclusion implemented in a literature-based case study in Flanders. These studies comprise the following topics: measuring transport gaps by relating the social to the transport disadvantage and measuring modal disparities by comparing accessibility by private and public transport. The former investigates in which areas the provision of the public transport system is not tailored to specific public transport needs. The latter examines the disparity in access by private and public transport in order to highlight the car dependency. Both case studies incorporate the temporal variability in provision through the private and public transport network, as the time-of-day strongly influences accessibility levels

The use of geographical applications for micro-planning school locations : the @SCHOOL app for preschools in Ghent, Belgium

Parallel with the increased use of internet technology, more and more data becomes freely accessible\ However, most of this data is only available in its raw form and centrally managed and thus not legible or applicable for non-professionals. Especially for primary needs such as health care or education, the availability of relevant information for inhabitants is crucial in improving their quality of life. Because education is one of the focal points in regional as well as in local policy, a dataset containing detailed information about school locations and characteristics was compiled on the regional level Flanders. However, this data is centrally owned and not made accessible for the public by a user-friendly tool. Therefore, a geographical application was developed, aimed at improving inhabitants' access to information concerning preschool locations in Ghent (Belgium). The combination of two open source programs (Google Docs and ESRI ArcGIS Online) makes it possible to centrally update the tool and make it available for all internet users in real-time. In the first phase, local authorities as well as civilians are able to request all relevant information (i.e. school name, school address, capacity, Google street view) about the selected nursery school in Ghent by implementing this user-friendly and open source tool. Furthermore, the tool can be used to determine which preschool is closest to a specific address. In the next phase, the dataset used in the application will be extended to contain information concerning all primary schools of the Flemish community. Today, the application is used by different local authorities as a tool for policy support and is available to inhabitants in Ghent in the process of enrolment ('Central Application Register' or CAR). The convenient and intuitive interface makes the tool inclusive for poorly-educated parents or internet illiterates

Evaluating spatial and social inequality by using GIS to analyze the catchment area and capacity of preschools in Ghent, Belgium

The growing popularity of the city as a qualitative living environment has an explicit and distinct impact on all regional cities in Flanders (Belgium). As a result of the pressure exerted by the increase in population, different kinds of spatial and social inequality can be perceived for multiple urban functions, for example for the educational system. Pupils of primary schools (in Flanders children between the age of 2.5 and 12 years) living in densely populated areas characterised by a capacity shortage in education are forced to attend schools at greater distances, because the capacity of nearby schools is exceeded. As a consequence, parents setting up camp in front of the school gates during enrolment periods are an annually recurring phenomenon. Methods pinpointing areas where problems concerning capacity are to be expected are missing. The research at hand used two different methods (short-term and long-term) to analyse the pressure exerted on preschools as a result of the growing urban population. The first analysis researched the change in capacity needs of preschools taking into account the rise of the number of children between the ages of 2 and 5 years to be expected over the next two years. The second analysis predicted the impact of urban growth on the accessibility to preschools. Instead of prognoses in overall population growth, the supply of new housing units from 2013 till 2025 was used to predict the rise in the number of children between the ages of 2.5 and 5.5 years for the next decade. Both analyses were validated for pre-schools in the city of Ghent, Flemish Region, Belgium and proved to be valuable tools to support local policy in education. The results indicated areas with considerable capacity and accessibility problems, on the short term as well as on the long term

Car Dependency and Urban Form

In this editorial of the thematic issue on car dependency and urban form, we provide a concise bibliometric overview that examines the prevalence of the concept of car dependency in relation to the built environment. Furthermore, we delve into the prior call for papers and analyse how the various contributions align with the theme. Subsequently, we present an inclusive review of the 11 distinct contributions, employing a classification framework encompassing micro, meso, and macro perspectives. To conclude, we reflect briefly on the utility of the concepts of being car-less versus car-free, and we contemplate the potential ramifications of fleet electrification on the ongoing discourse surrounding car dependency

Perceived car dependence and multimodality in urban areas in Flanders (Belgium)

In this study, we test the extent to which people who reside in hypothetically car-independent neighbourhoods travel  multimodally and perceive themselves as car dependent. We used the Flemish region as our study case, and defined a car-independent neighbourhood as an area with a high node and a high place value. A cluster analysis with four constituent variables – car use frequency, bicycle use frequency, vehicle kilometers travelled (VKT) and the need for a car to carry out daily activities - led to defining four heterogeneous groups of car owners. We labelled the groups as car-dependent motorists - long distance, car-dependent motorists - short distance, car-independent cyclists and car-dependent cyclists. We found all clusters to be to some extent multimodal. For our selected study area, car ownership does not necessarily induce perceived car-dependence among people who can easily get around by bicycle. Nevertheless, even in an urban setting and when exhibiting multimodal travel patterns, people can perceive their car as indispensable. Perceived car dependence is not necessarily correlated with high VKT or high frequency of car use, neither can we conclude that multimodal behaviour necessarily leads to less VKT

Car dependency beyond land use: Can a standardized built environment indicator predict car use?

In June 2019, the government of the Flemish Region (Belgium) launched the “mobility score,” a standardized built environment indicator that informs citizens in Flanders about the walking or cycling accessibility from their dwelling to a range of basic amenities and public transport stops. The development of the mobility score was developed to be a tool to raise awareness of the environmental impact of travel. Against this backdrop, this paper assesses the extent to which the mobility score can predict car use and aims to contribute to the line of research that studies travel patterns in relation to accessibility, spatial context, and travel mode choice. Based on the data from the Flemish Travel Behavior Survey, we analyze the effect of the interaction between the built environment, frequency of car use and vehicle kilometers traveled. Our findings illustrate that frequent and intensive car use is not an exclusive feature of suburban and rural residents in Flanders, or of those who travel long distances. The outcomes show that the mobility score can predict the frequency of car travel but only in the inner city. As for other areas, travel behavior shows little variance among respondents. The presence of a company car in a household is a much stronger predictor of vehicle kilometers traveled than any other variable, including the built environment. Travel behavior turns toward car use once a household acquires a car, almost regardless of the type of neighborhoods where respondents live. In Flanders, policy has so far been directed more toward curbing car use than discouraging car ownership. Our findings suggest that it could be more effective to aim for the latter, as this prevents the development of a cycle of car-oriented behavior in the first place

A set of pedagogical recommendations for improving the integrated approach to childhood overweight and obesity: A Delphi study

Background: Tackling the increasing global problem of childhood overweight and obesity requires an integrated approach. Studies increasingly emphasize the importance of the parents' role in interventions designed to prevent overweight in children. The aim of this study was to develop a unified set of recommendations for healthy parenting practices that can be applied by all professionals who work with children age 4-13 years and can contribute to strengthening the integrated approach to childhood overweight. Methods: A modified Delphi procedure was used to reach consensus regarding what these pedagogical recommendations should encompass. The 30 panelists were professionals and researchers who work with children age 4-13 in the domains of health care, overweight, parenting, education, nutrition, and/or sports. The procedure consisted of: i) extracting existing pedagogical recommendations from national guidelines and professional protocols, ii) appraising and prioritizing these recommendations in terms of relevance through two rounds of questionnaires, and iii) meeting to discuss and approve the set of recommendations. Results: Consensus was reached for one set of eleven pedagogical theme-based recommendations designed to support and instruct parents how to stimulate healthy energy balance-related behaviors in their child. Each recommendation contained information regarding: i) which behaviors in the child and/or parent are important, ii) why this is important, and iii) how parents can stimulate this behavior by applying parenting skills in daily life. The eleven themes were: modeling, positive parenting, breakfast, varied diet, sugar-sweetened beverages, snacks, physical activity, playing sports, quantity of screen time, screen time during meals, and sleep. Conclusion We developed a set of recommendations for healthy parenting that can be used by various professionals working with children age 4-13 and can contribute to creating an integrated approach to childhood overweight. We also developed a web-based app called “Recommendations for Healthy Parenting” as a convenient tool for following these recommendations

Observer variability of absolute and relative thrombus density measurements in patients with acute ischemic stroke

Introduction: Thrombus density may be a predictor for acute ischemic stroke treatment success. However, only limited data on observer variability for thrombus density measurements exist. This study assesses the variability and bias of four common thrombus density measurement methods by expert and non-expert observers. Methods: For 132 consecutive patients with acute ischemic stroke, three experts and two trained observers determined thrombus density by placing three standardized regions of interest (ROIs) in the thrombus and corresponding contralateral arterial segment. Subsequently, absolute and relative thrombus densities were determined using either one or three ROIs. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was determined, and Bland–Altman analysis was performed to evaluate interobserver and intermethod agreement. Accuracy of the trained observer was evaluated with a reference expert observer using the same statistical analysis. Results: The highest interobserver agreement was obtained for absolute thrombus measurements using three ROIs (ICCs ranging from 0.54 to 0.91). In general, interobserver agreement was lower for relative measurements, and for using one instead of three ROIs. Interobserver agreement of trained non-experts and experts was similar. Accuracy of the trained observer measurements was comparable to the expert interobserver agreement and was better for absolute measurements and with three ROIs. The agreement between the one ROI and three ROI methods was good. Conclusion: Absolute thrombus density measurement has superior interobserver agreement compared to relative density measurement. Interobserver variation is smaller when multiple ROIs are used. Trained non-expert observers can accurately and reproducibly assess absolute thrombus densities using three ROIs