UKLL newsletter February 2025: reaching 200 participants and revealing behavioural insights / 1.02.2025

The Urban Cycling Lab Ljubljana reaches a major participation milestone while uncovering how cyclists actively adapt their behaviour to reduce environmental exposure.

In February 2025, the Urban Cycling Lab Ljubljana (UKLL) reached a significant milestone, surpassing 200 active participants contributing to the project. This achievement reflects the strong engagement of citizen scientists, whose data and experiences form the foundation of the study. As the data collection phase approaches its final stage, the project is transitioning towards in-depth analysis and the generation of actionable insights on urban environmental exposure.

At the same time, preliminary findings based on ethnographic observations and collected data reveal important behavioural patterns among urban cyclists. Many participants already intuitively adapt their routes to reduce exposure to air pollution, noise, and traffic-related stress. While conventional routes are often the shortest and most direct, cyclists frequently choose alternative paths through green spaces, quieter streets, and less congested areas, prioritising comfort, safety, and environmental quality over travel time.

To illustrate these differences, the project developed comparative route maps highlighting the contrast between conventional high-traffic routes and alternative paths selected by participants. These insights underline the importance of integrating behavioural dynamics into urban planning and exposure assessment, as real-world mobility choices often diverge from purely efficiency-based models.

The project also continued its dissemination activities at the international level, with a presentation at RECETOX (Masaryk University, Brno), where the Urban Cycling Lab was introduced as a case study of integrating citizen science into environmental health and mobility research.

In addition, the newsletter highlighted the broader contributions of the research team, including interdisciplinary work that connects environmental research with creative and cultural fields, further emphasizing the diverse perspectives involved in the Living Lab.

As the project moves closer to completing data collection, the focus now shifts towards analysing the extensive dataset and sharing results with participants, stakeholders, and policymakers, ensuring that the knowledge generated contributes to improving urban mobility and environmental conditions.

The full newsletter is available at: https://mailchi.mp/8f7aa38874b7/novice-iz-okoljske-obanske-znanosti-februar25