Understanding and Mapping Elements of Urban form that Affect Children's Ability to Walk and Bicycle to School

Abstract

In 1969, 48% of students walked or biked to school. By 2001, that proportion had fallen to 15%. Increasing children's active travel to school is important for a variety of reasons, including the rising rates of childhood obesity and increasing fuel costs. Recent studies indicate that elements of the built environment affect the amount of time people engage in physical activity. This study evaluates two indicators of the urban form as measures of walkability potential: street connectivity and residential density around elementary schools in Pasco and Hillsborough counties in Florida. By means of controlling for school age on the basis of the growth management legislation history in Florida, four growth eras are compared. Pedestrian sheds of ½- and 1-mi radii around school points are used as study areas. These indicators offer insight into the evolution of the urban form around elementary schools and its implications for students’ ability to walk to school. Preliminary findings suggest that walkability indicators in the vicinity of elementary schools built before 1950 exhibited high levels of street connectivity and residential density. These values declined consistently until stricter school planning legislation was enacted, when values started to increase and sometimes approached pre-1950 levels. This pattern is stronger, however, in Hillsborough County.

Does the walkability of neighbourhoods affect children's independent mobility, independent of parental, socio-cultural and individual factors?

“…Conversely, well-connected street networks facilitates AT behaviour (Braza et al, 2004, Boarnet et al, 2005, Kerr et al, 2006, Falb et al, 2007, Bejleri et al, 2009, Mota et al, 2007. Connected streets increase proximity to local destinations, providing shorter and usually more direct routes to destinations.…”

“…'Walkable' environments combine a number of built environment attributes that encourage ease of pedestrian access and neighbourhood AT. For example, better connected street networks have generally been shown to positively influence 9-11 year old children's AT behaviour (Braza et al, 2004, Boarnet et al, 2005, Falb et al, 2007, Kerr et al, 2006, Bejleri et al, 2009 by reducing distances to destinations and providing multiple route options (Chin et al, 2008). Lower levels of traffic exposure have also been shown to influence children's AT (Timperio et al, 2004, Carlin et al, 1997, von Kries et al, 1998.…”

Understanding the link between street connectivity, land use and pedestrian flows

“…Where there is a choice, people prefer to walk on 'main streets' (Hess et al, 1999). Children are more likely to walk to school when street connections are denser and population density is higher (Bejleri et al, 2009). Shorter distances to stores/markets and eating/ drinking places are associated with more walking (Lee and Moudon, 2006), which in turn is shown to substitute for longer automobile trips (Ewing and Cervero, 2001).…”

Can the Neighborhood Built Environment Make a Difference in Children's Development? Building the Research Agenda to Create Evidence for Place-Based Children's Policy

“…We know that destinations such as schools, recreation venues, and child and health care services all have inherent functional roles, but they can also serve as physical places for social interaction and developing networks of support 35 . These places may influence children's development through providing opportunities to learn, explore, recreate, socialise, and interact 90,91 .…”