A Multi-Level Data-driven Framework for Understanding Perceptions Towards Cycling Infrastructure Across Regions Leveraging Social Media Discourse

TL;DR

This study introduces a multi-scale, data-driven framework analyzing social media discourse to understand regional perceptions of cycling infrastructure, revealing regional sentiment patterns and thematic differences across the U.S. and Europe.

Contribution

It presents a novel multi-level framework combining sentiment analysis, topic modeling, and hierarchical modeling to assess perceptions across regions using large-scale social media data.

Findings

Overall positive sentiment in both regions, slightly higher in Europe.

Sentiment more critical in comments than original posts.

Most variation in sentiment occurs within cities rather than between regions.

Abstract

Cycling plays an important role in sustainable urban mobility, yet how people perceive cycling infrastructure varies widely and remains challenging to assess at large spatial scales. Existing research has mainly relied on surveys or short-form social media data and has often focused on individual cities, leaving limited insight into how cycling discussions unfold across broader geographic contexts. This study proposes a multi-scale framework that examines how cycling infrastructure is discussed and evaluated in online public discourse and explores whether sentiment patterns differ between the United States (U.S.) and selected European countries included in the dataset. The analysis draws on a large collection of discussions on a social media platform, namely Reddit, including more than 30,000 posts and over 500,000 associated comments gathered from cycling-focused and geographically defined communities across multiple U.S. states and selected European countries. Using a combination of sentiment analysis, topic modeling, aspect-based classification, and hierarchical statistical modeling, the study evaluates the emotional tone and thematic structure of these discussions and how they vary spatially. Overall sentiment toward cycling is positive in both regions, with slightly higher values observed in the European sample, although differences remain modest. Sentiment tends to become more critical in comment discussions compared to original posts. Topic and aspect analyses show that sentiment is primarily associated with experience-based themes, with most variation occurring within cities rather than between regions. Together, these findings illustrate how discussion-based online data can complement traditional approaches to understanding public perceptions of cycling infrastructure in sustainable urban contexts.