Routledge, the prestigious British academic publishing house focussed on the social sciences, has published a book called Psychological Perspectives on Walking. Its authors Matúš Šucha from the UP Faculty of Arts Department of Psychology and Ralf Risser, a visiting professor at the same department, worked on it for two years. The new publication provides a comprehensive overview of how walking is beneficial and at the same time it shows how to motivate people to walk even more on the basis of psychological principles.
The more than 200-page work, in which psychologists from Palacký University Olomouc investigate walking as an attribute that improves health and positively affects the environment, is about psychological motivations that support walking. The arguments are based on walking research and include both theoretical considerations and everyday concerns.
“The book is intended for both professionals and students, as well as the general public interested in the issue. It can be interesting especially for those who are somehow involved in the areas of transport, mobility, public space, urbanism, and architecture,” said Matúš Šucha. At the UP Department of Psychology, he specialises in traffic psychology; his research focusses on traffic safety and sustainable mobility. His work thus perfectly complements the work of visiting professor Ralf Risser, who is interested in similar topics.
The authors of the new book, which focusses on walking from psychological perspectives, explore as well as provide information on motivations that may lead to a greater need and desire to walk. They advise on how to build habits that help walking and recommend strategies for decision-makers in promoting change that enables walking. The book also contains stories of “walkable cities”, mainly to show how such initiatives can be successful in the end.
“If I had to comment on the city of Olomouc, I would say that it is quite accommodating to walking needs. It can easily be considered a walkable city and as such could be compared to Salzburg or Bruges. Its strength is in having a limited mode of car entry into the historic city centre and at the same time having good public transport. Parking could certainly be improved here, especially in the wider city centre; also, sufficient parking capacity on the outskirts of the city could be provided and connected to public transport. Olomouc would certainly be helped by better interconnection and cohesion of individual modes of transport, especially for people who commute to the city from the surrounding areas,” said Šucha.
The book Psychological Perspectives on Walking, among other things, contributes to solving social problems and supports microeconomics, and thus will appeal to anyone interested in a sustainable lifestyle. It provides an ideal background for those who want to have a deeper understanding of the issues of sustainable transport. It is available here.