Anna Bornioli PhD

Senior researcher transport and urban economics

Email address: bornioli@ese.eur.nl
Phone: +31(0)10 408 2740
Room: Woudenstein, T-Building, Room T19-37
Space: Mandeville Building

Biography

Anna Bornioli PhD is a senior researcher specialised in urban walking, mobility behaviours and healthy built environments. All these themes are concentrated in specialised research in healthy cities.

Healthy cities make happy people

Anna Bornioli has specific research expertise in urban walking and healthy built environments. For example, on the way urban design influences walking behaviour and encourages walking. When pedestrians enjoy their surroundings they walk more and longer distances. This benefits their health. In addition, certain elements of urban environments can support people’s health. Urban and transport policy tools that can contribute to make cities healthier and more attractive are: car-free and low-traffic environments, low-emission zones, 30km/h speed limits, green infrastructure and natural elements.

Research expertise

Evaluation of urban interventions and transport policies;
Mobility behaviours and health effects;
Mobility and health of young people;
Mobility and low-emission zones;
Road safety;
Parking policies;
Car-free environments;
Tourism behaviours;
Benefits of nature and green infrastructure;
Values of cultural heritage.

Methodological expertise

Experimental research;
Longitudinal data analysis of large datasets;
Survey design;
Qualitative research (interviews, focus groups, urban ethnography, participatory map sketching).

Recent collaborations and projects

SMARTDEST EU Horizon 2020 project led by Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Spain. SMARTDEST is about developing innovative solutions to the externalities that are produced by tourism-related mobilities in cities to inform the design of alternative policy options for more socially inclusive places in the age of mobilities.
Payamos (Promotion of Physical Activity of the Youth through Active Mobility to School) Erasmus+ project led by Technische Universität Berlin, Germany. Payamos is about promoting the physical activity of children of 9-12 years and adolescents of 14-18 years in seven European countries.
Built Environment EEG and Mood Study: research assessing the health benefits of walking in urban environments using physiological (EEG) and psychological measures with the Centre for Public Health and Wellbeing (University of the West of England, Bristol)
Favourite Urban Places Study: analysis of the restorative potential of outdoor and indoor favourite built settings, with Enviwell Group (University of Tampere, Finland)
Bristol 20mph Evaluation: evaluation of the public health benefits of the 20mph speed limit introduction in Bristol, with the Centre for Public Health and Wellbeing and Bristol City Council.

Teaching activities

Anna teaches to and supervises students from the BSc and MSc Economics and Business (Urban, Port, and Transport Economics). She holds the UK Higher Education Academy Associate Fellowship.

Academic career

Anna’s PhD, completed in November 2017 at the Centre for Transport and Society (University of the West of England, Bristol – United Kingdom) explored the influence of urban environments on wellbeing outcomes from the pedestrian point of view.

Anna has a BSc in Economics from the University of Cagliari, Italy, a MA in Cultural Economics from the University of Bologna, Italy, and spent one year at City University London (Department of Economics) as an Erasmus student.

Recent publications

Peer-reviewed articles

Bornioli, A., Russo, A.P., Vermeulen, S., Valente, R. (2020). The spatial articulation and local effects of tourism and associated mobilities. Technical report.
Bornioli, A., Evans, D. and Cotter, C., 2020. Evaluation of the UK Public Health Skills and Knowledge Framework (PHSKF): implications for international competency frameworks. BMC public health, 20(1), pp.1-8.
Bornioli, A., Evans, D. and Muttaqi, S., 2020. Public Health Skills and Knowledge Framework (PHSKF). Evaluation and quality assurance framework.
Bornioli, A., Bray, I., Pilkington, P., & Parkin, J. (2019). Effects of city-wide 20mph (30km/hr) speed limits on road injuries in Bristol, UK. Injury prevention, 26(1), pp.85-88.
Bornioli, A., Parkhurst, G., & Morgan, P. (2019). Affective experiences of built environments and the promotion of urban walking. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 123, 200.
Bornioli, A., Lewis-Smith, H., Smith, A., Slater, A. and Bray, I., 2019. Adolescent body dissatisfaction and disordered eating: Predictors of later risky health behaviours. Social Science & Medicine, 238, p.112458.
Bornioli, A., Bray, I., Pilkington, P., & Bird, E. (2018). The effectiveness of a 20 mph speed limit intervention on vehicle speeds in Bristol, UK: A non-randomised stepped wedge design. Journal of Transport and Health, 11, 47-55.
Bornioli, A., Parkhurst, G., & Morgan, P. (in press). The psychological wellbeing benefits of place engagement during walking in urban environments: A qualitative photo-elicitation study. Health and Place, 53, 228-236.
Bornioli, A., Parkhurst, G., & Morgan, P. (2018). Psychological wellbeing benefits of simulated exposure to five urban settings: An experimental study from the pedestrian’s perspective. Journal of Transport and Health, 9, 105-116.

Conferences

Bornioli, A., Bray, I., Pilkington, P., & Bird, E. (2019, May). The 20mph speed limit policy in Bristol: Analysis of speed and collisions variations. Paper presented at The 15th World Conference on Transport Research, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India.
Bornioli, A. (2018, November). Accessible walking hubs for psychological wellbeing. Paper presented at Accessible Hubs – International workshop on Universal Design in urban mobility systems. Technische Universität Darmstadt., Darmstadt, Germany.
Bornioli, A., Parkhurst, G., & Morgan, P. (2018, January). Healthy walking: The role of architecture. Paper presented at AMPS 2018 Health: The Design, Planning and Politics of How and Where We Live, Bristol, England.

PhD thesis

Bornioli, A. The influence of city centre environments on the affective walking experience. (Thesis). University of the West of England.