UKLL newsletter June 2025: campaign completion and first insights into exposure and behaviour / 1.06.2025

The Urban Cycling Lab Ljubljana completes its data collection campaign and presents first insights into how environmental conditions and behaviour shape cyclists’ exposure.

In June 2025, the Urban Cycling Lab Ljubljana (UKLL) officially concluded its data collection campaign, marking the transition from large-scale data gathering to analysis, interpretation, and co-creation of results. This milestone reflects the substantial contribution of citizen scientists, whose participation enabled the collection of a uniquely rich dataset on urban cycling, environmental exposure, and user experience.

Preliminary analyses of PM2.5 data reveal clear temporal and spatial patterns in exposure. On cleaner days, typically corresponding to the non-heating season, pollution levels are generally lower but show strong spatial variability, with significantly higher concentrations observed near major roads. This suggests that route choice plays a crucial role in determining exposure during these periods. In contrast, on highly polluted days, associated with the heating season, pollution levels are elevated across the entire city, and differences between locations become less pronounced. Under these conditions, the overall background pollution dominates, reducing the relative importance of route selection.

In parallel, questionnaire results provide important insights into perception and behaviour. While a large majority of participants report awareness of air pollution risks and the ability to identify cleaner routes, only about half actively adjust their behaviour to reduce exposure. Nevertheless, route selection emerges as the most promising protective strategy, with many participants describing the development of a new “environmental awareness,” balancing trade-offs between travel time, comfort, noise, and air quality.

The project continues to integrate qualitative insights through mobile “ride-along” interviews, capturing personal experiences that complement sensor-based measurements. These narratives provide valuable context for interpreting quantitative data and understanding how individuals perceive and respond to environmental stressors in real-world settings.

Looking ahead, the Living Lab will organise a co-creation workshop where participants will contribute to interpreting the findings and shaping future analyses. This reinforces a key principle of the Living Lab approach: involving participants not only in data collection, but also in knowledge generation and decision-making processes.

The full newsletter is available at: https://mailchi.mp/1d57dd831f95/novice-iz-okoljske-obanske-znanosti-junij-25-10337087