Preventing Childhood Obesity - Evidence Policy and Practice.pdf

Chapter 13
Modifying the b uilt e nvironment
Built environment modifications (e.g., traffic calming
and home zones) seek to promote the safe passage and
increased visibility of child pedestrians. Traffic -
calming measures endeavor to reduce the negative
effects of vehicles, alter driver behavior, and enhance
overall conditions for pedestrians. Posted travel speed,
street alignments, vehicular obstacles and other design
tactics act to lower travel speeds. In some cases,
streets are closed off to through traffic, particularly in
17,30 – 33
residential areas.
Traffic calming measures have been shown to be
successful in a number of countries. For instance, up
until the 1970s, Denmark had the highest rate of child
road deaths in western Europe. In 1976, the Danish
national government passed legislation requiring local
authorities to reduce the speed on roads to a norm of
30 km/h and to invest in greater walking and cycling
infrastructure. Today, Denmark has much higher
levels of walking and cycling than the UK and much
lower casualty rates. 34 In the UK, where introduction
of 30 km/h zones has met with much more limited
acceptance by local traffic engineers, the zones have
proved successful in terms of speed reduction, accident
rates and increased resident perceptions of safety,
although traffic calming and enforcement are still necessary
in these areas. 32
The UK Home Zone projects, introduced in 1999,
usually involve a shared surface for cars and pedestrians
(no grade or other separation of roadway and
footpath), tree planting, improved lighting, use of
colored and textured surface treatments, and sometimes
other design aspects such as a symbolic
“ gateway ” entrance to the street. 35 Possible benefits of
Home Zones, apart from reducing road traffic accidents,
include engendering greater social interaction
and a sense of symbolic ownership, reducing the fear
of crime, and providing places for children ’ s informal
recreation close to home. They are the opposite of the
more traditional “Radburn” approach to transportation
planning, which stressed complete separation
of vehicle and pedestrian pathways, since the isolated
subways and footbridges that resulted from the
Radburn approach were widely perceived as being
unsafe in terms of stranger danger, 36 and remained
unpopular for walking. 35
An evaluation of seven home zones indicated the
development of stronger communities in all sites as a
result of their establishment. Adult residents reported
knowing more neighbors afterwards, and an increased
ability to resolve neighborhood disputes through discussion
rather than bringing in the authorities. 33
Lower speeds and reduced traffic resulted at all sites,
and in five sites there were measurable increases in
CIM. However, implementation has been slow and
some researchers contend that traffic speeds may need
to be as low as 12 km/h to encourage greater child
pedestrian use. 33
New research between planning, transport and
health is also articulating the importance of accommodating
children ’ s incidental physical activity
through accessible facilities and interesting environments.
Approximately 150 children aged 10 in three
Melbourne schools were asked to map and photograph
neighborhood attractions that they could walk
or cycle to. Common destinations included playgrounds
and sports fields as well as less elaborate recreational
possibilities such as a target painted on a wall
for ball playing. 37 Other studies provide encouraging
evidence of associations between children ’ s activity
levels and the proximity of parks. 38 – 40 Gill 33 suggests
that amenities such as children ’ s mosaics and other
public art may increase symbolic control of streets (see
Engwicht), 41 while Prezza et al 17 suggest that greenery
in road dividers and along streets may mitigate immediate
air pollution, reduce traffic noise and create a
degree of amenity. Unlike the evaluation literature on
traffic calming, no studies have been located to either
prove or disprove that policies aimed at increasing the
number and types of neighborhood amenities increase
children ’ s autonomous and active movement.
Finally, a set of larger-scale built environment
interventions, including “smart growth ” and “new
urbanism ” projects, have developed “a persuasive
hypothesis attributing the change in travel behaviour
… to the urban form of our communities ” . 42 Yet the
evidentiary support for built environment changes
influencing children ’ s (as opposed to adult ’ s) travel
behaviour is not well advanced.
Social p lanning and m arketing: s chool
t ravel p lans and the w alking s chool b us
In contrast to the built environment emphasis on the
community level, much public health literature is
focused on individual level social determinants of
children ’ s modal choice, such as self - confidence in
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