Groundwork for adolescent bikeability assessment in Germany: An open GIS and regularised regression approach across cities, towns and rural areas

• Bikeability characteristics for adolescents are operationalised using open GIS data. • Street infrastructure within a 16 min cycling radius is associated with cycling. • Access to different destinations between 4–16 min is important. • Associations with cycling depend on the urban–rural context. • Open GIS data may facilitate reproducibility and refinement of bikeability measures. Adolescents need safe infrastructure, accessible places and comfort to cycle for transport. However, the bikeability literature focuses almost exclusively on adult cycling in large cities. The aims of the study are to operationalise bikeability characteristics adapted to adolescents in the German context using open GIS data and assess the relation between bikeability characteristics within different cycling distances and cycling to school in adolescents living in cities, towns and rural areas. Cycling infrastructure and access to different destinations relevant to adolescents were operationalised using open GIS data. German-wide cycling-to-school data of 1,133 adolescents aged 11–17 years (50.0 % girls) from the Motorik-Modul Study were linked to the bikeability measures. A logistic ridge regression identified relevant bikeability characteristics in cities, towns and rural areas within five different cycling radii between 4–20 min. Adolescents living in cities had higher odds of cycling if there were more residential streets with a slow speed limit within a 16-minute cycling radius from home and better access to outdoor sports facilities, shops and food outlets within 4–16 min of cycling. In towns, cycling was positively associated with both slow residential streets and separated cycling infrastructure, as well as access to schools, shops and food outlets, outdoor sports facilities, and a larger residential population within similar travel ranges. Cycling may be facilitated by different infrastructure and accessibility characteristics in cities and towns. Future bikeability research should target vulnerable groups and people living in less densely populated areas. This work lays the groundwork for an adolescent bikeability index for Germany.