http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-transport-and-health/call-for-papers/call-for-papers-special-issue-of-journal-of-transport-and-he/

Call For Papers: Special Issue of Journal of Transport and Health: Walking and Walkability: A review of the evidence on health

This special issue is documenting the health effects of walking and walkable communities in a wide range of areas and exploring the policy and environmental changes that can result in sustaining these effects. Although the specific examples listed below are mostly from the USA, submissions are sought from any country. Manuscripts are requested in the following areas:

1. Evaluation of or testing a new or unique program, policy, or project that aims to increase the number of individuals walking for recreation and/or transport. This can include both projects working to increase active transportation/modal shift and/or efforts to improve population health through broad reaching walking initiatives. We are looking for unique and innovative approaches that are underpinned by a good theoretical basis. Manuscripts will be considered whether they examine positive or negative impacts.

Examples include:

Complete Streets – status of policies across US and experiences with implementing such policies, recognizing that implementing complete streets may be more complicated than passing the policy. What has been the experience of communities and states in the implementation? How have these policies influenced resource allocation and participation in active transportation?
Walk Friendly Cities – status of program and impacts from having that certification.
Update on interactions between walking and use of transit
Role of legislation and litigation in making communities more walkable, including accommodations for persons with disabilities as a means to improve walkability for all
Examples of health institutions and medical care providers who facilitate walking, such as Walk with a Doc (http://walkwithadoc.org/who-we-are/), Arkansas’s Medical Mile (www.americantrails.org/resources/health/medmile06.html), and walking prescriptions (https://www.bidmc.org/YourHealth/The-Walking-Club/Walking-Prescription-Pad.aspx) - what is the impact of such interventions on walking, and on health?

2. Define and assess walk-friendly policies, provide evidence that the policy or policies result in more pedestrian activity and can be implemented in other places.

For example:

Comparison of walking facilities and policies by 50 states and 50 major cities using data from Benchmarking report (www.bikewalkalliance.org/resources/benchmarking)
Interaction of walk friendly and bike friendly policies – where are they synergistic, where are they in conflict?

3. Examine benefits or unintended consequences of walking and walkability. We would be interested in papers showing the associations between walking and walkability with variables such as physical health, behavioral health, cognitive ability, environment, crime, safety, social cohesion, happiness and well-being. Other possible associations might include economic, productivity, resiliency, stress and vitality measures. Creative and advanced measures of walkability are encouraged, especially those that consider network connectivity and accessibility.

For example:

International comparisons examining national well-being measures and walking and walkability, based on individual level data. These could include cross national comparisons or from a single country.

Submission method (Submission via EES)

All papers should be submitted via the Journal of Transport and Health online system. While submitting a paper to the special issue, please choose the article type “SI: Walking & walkability” otherwise your submission will be handled as a regular manuscript. All submissions will go through the journal’s standard peer review process. Criteria for acceptance include originality, contribution, and scientific merit, as well as being within scope. For author guidelines, please visit the website of the journal at https://www.elsevier.com/journals/journal-of-transport-and-health/2214-1405/guide-for-authors

Key dates

Submission is now open. The deadline for submission is Monday February 29th, 2016.

The deadline for resubmission of revised manuscripts will be July 31^st 2016.

Final decisions will be made by November 2016.

All manuscripts will be published online (as e-prints) as soon as they receive final acceptance and have been processed for publication, prior to being collated in the special issue. Publication of the Special Issue is planned for early 2017.

Guest Editor contact information:

Kate Kraft, kkraft@americawalks.org

Tracy Hadden Loh “tracy@railstotrails.org”

Andrew Dannenberg “adannenberg2@gmail.com”