The benefits of everyday active mobility for local social cohesion

The significance of local social cohesion as a pivotal element in determining both individual and societal well-being is increasingly recognized. The present research explores how everyday mobility behaviors in cities contribute to the formation and maintenance of social cohesion at the neighborhood level. To this end, we conducted four studies. In the first study, a longitudinal multi-level analysis was employed to examine the association between mobility behavior (e.g., cycling) and orientation towards the common good, which serves as the building block of social cohesion. This investigation utilized annual surveys from 2014 to 2019 of a representative sample of the German general population (GESIS PANEL, N = 410). In all models, cycling rather than driving was positively associated with orientation towards the common good. Cycling was the only significant positive predictor for all four facets of orientation towards the common good - after controlling for possible confounding variables (home ownership, highest level of education, gender). The results of the second, qualitative study showed that active forms of neighborhood mobility - such as walking and cycling - create regular, effortless opportunities for casual contact and mutual recognition. These interactions, in turn, promote neighborhood familiarity, which is closely linked to local social cohesion. In the third and fourth studies, we used a multi-method approach to develop a new scale to measure local and social familiarity. The development of the items was based on the results of eleven qualitative interviews employing the "neighborhood go-along method" and five expert pretests. The utilization of an EFA and a CFA led to the substantiation of two discrete factors: social and local familiarity. The Neighborhood Familiarity Scale was validated convergently with the Sense of Neighborhood Scale, place dependence, and place identity, and discriminatively with the Scale of Social (Dis)-Connectedness (which measures anonymity). In the context of neighborhood familiarity, the extent to which active mobility in the neighborhood can be considered a social space is examined. The implications for urban design and public health policy are discussed, with an emphasis on the underestimated potential of active mobility to strengthen local social cohesion in neighborhoods.