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Angela CurlSenior Lecturer
Postgraduate Course Director

Email angela.curl@otago.ac.nz

Department of Population Health
University of Otago, Christchurch
PO Box 4345
Christchurch 8140

Background

Angela is a social scientist interested in the relationships between urban environments, transport and health. She is particularly interested in how public policies, particularly in transport, urban planning and housing, can address health inequalities and transport disadvantage.

Angela undertakes research exploring perceptions and experiences of accessibility and how these interact with the built environment to influence outcomes, such as travel behaviour, transport disadvantage, physical activity, health and wellbeing, for different population groups. Her research focuses particularly the experiences of older adults and lower income groups.

Angela uses both quantitative and qualitative social research methodologies and is particularly interested in novel methodological approaches, including those that utilise GIS.

Her current research projects include:

  • Older adults' experiences of the pedestrian environment, particularly in relation to falling and fear of falling
  • Health and social impacts of new transport technologies, including autonomous vehicles, bicycle-sharing, and e-scooters
  • Incorporating social and distributional impact assessment into transport policy (Ministry of Transport)

She previously lectured in Health Geography at the University of Canterbury and worked as a postdoctoral researcher in Urban Studies at the University of Glasgow and at the OPENspace research centre at the University of Edinburgh. She completed her PhD in Geography at the Centre for Transport Research at the University of Aberdeen. Prior to this she worked as a transport planner.

Teaching

Angela teaches papers in the Diploma of Public Health.

She is interested in supervising PhD and masters' theses in a range of areas, such as:

  • Urban environments, urban planning and health
  • Built environment (including accessibility) and health
  • Social inclusion and transport deprivation.
  • Perceptions and experiences of mobility and accessibility
  • Sustainable and active travel
  • Age-friendly cities
  • Health and social impacts of new transport technologies

Professional activities / memberships

  • Editorial board of Journal of Transport Geography (book review editor)
  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
  • Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society
  • Member of Transportation Group (EngineeringNZ)
  • Member and branch Committee Member – Public Health Association
  • Member of New Zealand Geographical Society

Student supervision

Current supervision

Student: Williams, N.
Degree: PhD (in progress)
Topic: How can gender sensitive transport planning and design improve social equity and community health outcomes?

Student: Stevenson, T
Degree: Master of Public Health
Dissertation Topic: Readability of patient information documents in Canterbury, New Zealand

Completed PhD

2021

Student: Prana, A.
Degree: PhD
Topic: Supporting Communities to Adapt to a Flooding Environment in Jakarta

2018

Student: Macleod, M.
Degree: PhD
Topic: Understanding the rise and impact of food banks within the welfare state: A comparative study between Scotland and Finland

Completed Masters

2022

Student: Thomas, J.
Topic: Access to Active Transport and Self-Perceived Mental Health in Christchurch, New Zealand

2020

Student: Gibson, Hebe
Topic: Contested boundaries: E-scooter riders' and pedestrians' experiences of sharing space

2019

Student: Mukherjee, W.
Topic: Shared mobility: the future of public transport

Student: McCone, E.
Topic: Is there a relationship between school student's transport patterns and perceptions, and a significant school restructure/relocation?

2018

Student: Dares, C.
Topic: BEYOND the FORTRESS: Dis/ability, Community and Care

Student: Moore, C.
Topic: Resilience and Accessibility in post-earthquake Christchurch

2017

Student: Slaughter, H.
Topic: Generating actionable intelligence and meaningful data from a Smart Cities project

Student: Douglas-Clifford, A.
Topic: Passenger Transport Perceptions and Crowdsourcing

2014

Student: Currie, A.
Topic: Motivations and Barriers to female cycling in Glasgow

Student: McCartney, D.
Topic: Identifying locations for cycle routes in Glasgow

Completed Honours

2018

Hackett, G.
Topic: Female experiences of cycling in Christchurch

2017

Cox, D.
Topic: Is there evidence of forced car ownership in Christchurch, New Zealand?

Publications

Curl, A., Coppens, A., Dares, C., Williman, J., Fitt, H., & Kingham, S. (2024). Accessibility and affordability impacts of half price public transport fares in Aotearoa New Zealand. Findings, (February). doi: 10.32866/001c.92735

McKerchar, C., Bidwell, S., Curl, A., Pocock, T., Cowie, M., Miles, H., & Crossin, R. (2023). Promoting health in the digital environment: health policy experts’ responses to on-demand delivery in Aotearoa New Zealand. Health Promotion International, 38, daad091. doi: 10.1093/heapro/daad091

Duthie, C., Pocock, T., Curl, A., Clark, E., Norriss, D., Bidwell, S., McKerchar, C., & Crossin, R. (2023). Online on-demand delivery services of food and alcohol: A scoping review of public health impacts. SSM Population Health, 21, 101349. doi: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2023.101349

Norriss, D., Crossin, R., Curl, A., Bidwell, S., Clark, E., Pocock, T., Gage, R., & McKerchar, C. (2022). Food outlet access and the healthiness of food available 'on-demand' via meal delivery apps in New Zealand. Nutrients, 14(20), 4228. doi: 10.3390/nu14204228

Curl, A., Annear, M., Keeling, S., & Hackett, G. (2023). Building back better: Do post-earthquake neighborhoods promote active aging? A long-term audit analysis in Christchurch, New Zealand. Journal of Aging & Environment, 37(3), 255-276. doi: 10.1080/26892618.2022.2071373

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