Bicycle Network: Our Organisation
Our Environment
Bicycle Network Victoria takes a broad view of health as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being’ (1) . We are in a unique position to promote the health of the community by getting More People Cycling More Often.
The health benefit of physical activity is well established(2) . Bicycle Network Victoria brings about a wide range of positive health outcomes through our work in many domains including transport, recreation and tourism. Everything we do aims to stimulate the direct and immediate preventive health benefit derived from physical activity that bike riding provides. We follow established health promotion practice in this work, seeking to make a measurable difference at a societal scale.
Dahlgren and Whitehead (1991) (3) offer a useful model to describe the multiple factors that determine good health. It provides a framework for thinking about and advancing Bicycle Network Victoria’s positive influence.
Individual lifestyle factors
Bike riding is a effective form of physical activity. Bicycle Network Victoria fosters life long participation in bike riding by supporting people to adopt habits of regular and beneficial physical activity.
Social and Community factors
Belonging to a social network has a powerful protective effect on health. Bicycle Network Victoria actively seeks to provide people with opportunities for social connections through bike riding. We foster engagement and empower people so that they can be heard and represent their needs that relate to More People Cycling More Often.
Socio economic, cultural and environmental factors
Bicycle Network Victoria works to exert a positive influence on the wider social, cultural, economic and environmental determinants of health to achieve healthy places to live, work and study. We work to develop investments, policies, systems, targets and programs that focus on bike riding to prevent disease and promote health including the systemic, socially produced and unfair differences in health in our community.
Types of bike riding
There are two main categories of bike riding that can be developed at a societal scale to prevent disease: riding for recreation and riding for transport. Each type can be split usefully into high intensity and moderate intensity and characterised by time and average speed of trip.
Our work to get More People Cycling More Often develops each of these four categories to increase the individual and societal level of bike riding.