The influence of green streets on cycling behavior in European cities

Cycling is an environment-friendly and healthy urban transport mode. Making cycling convenient, attractive and safe is thus an essential contribution to livable cities. While previous studies largely focused on the built cycling infrastructure, relationships between greening in streetscapes and cycling behavior are unclear. We conducted an online survey to test how different greening levels in urban streetscapes (i) relate to the attractiveness of streets for cycling, (ii) influence the choice of cycling routes, and (iii) whether respondents' (n = 1404) attitudes relate to their sociocultural background. We used standardized photo collages showing street scenes with three levels of greening: none, moderate (street trees), high (street trees, vegetated tree pits, green facades). Each green level was combined with different types of cycling infrastructure to untangle greening effects from the latter. Respondents consistently preferred high level of greening over moderate, and the latter over no greening-independent of the type of cycling infrastructure. Most respondents indicated a preference for green streets for cycling and favored detours to avoid grey streets. Whereas respondents' sociocultural background, affiliation to urban greening and mobility patterns had little influence on the valuation of the street scenes, these variables related to route choice (e.g., gender, employment status, use of greenspaces). Results indicate broad support for greening streetscapes as a promising pathway to enhance cycling in cities. This demonstrates links between urban green planning and environment-friendly mobility policies, and encourages approaches towards green streets as multifunctional components of the urban green infrastructure.