Lindsay M. Braun

Lindsay Braun’s research addresses the relationship between the built environment and travel behavior with emphases on active transportation (walking and cycling), public health, and social equity. She is interested in the potential for the built environment to facilitate physical activity as part of daily travel routines and for active transportation strategies to advance broad livability and sustainability goals in urban areas. Importantly, her work recognizes that transportation infrastructure systems – along with the accessibility and health benefits that they can provide – are unevenly distributed across neighborhoods of varying demographic and socioeconomic characteristics.

To explore the implications of this distribution for social justice, Dr. Braun analyzes themes of equity and power in access to walking and cycling in U.S. cities. Specifically, her current research examines pedestrian access to transit; sociodemographic disparities in infrastructure- and safety-related barriers to walking; equity considerations in the planning, implementation, and use of dockless bike share systems; the potential impacts of green infrastructure investment on gentrification and health disparities; the incorporation of equity goals and objectives into active transportation plans; and the equity implications of a growing reliance on crowd-sourced data to drive transportation planning decisions.

Dr. Braun received her PhD in City and Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She also holds a Master of City and Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Development Studies from Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. Prior to earning her PhD, Dr. Braun was a transportation planning consultant in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she partnered with local, state, and federal agencies to evaluate the community impacts of transportation investments and to develop practitioner tools and resources for community health and livability. She continues to translate her research into practice by partnering with planning and public health practitioners, with recent projects including a literature review on the diverse co-benefits of active transportation interventions and an evaluation of the Cincinnati Red Bike bicycle sharing program.