Background
Children have a right to a safe and healthy environment. Active school travel (AST) is a means of getting school-aged children more active during the day, through encouraging movement before and after school. Across Canada, AST rates have declined over the last 50 years with only an estimated one-third of children using AST regularly. Reasons for the decline have primarily been attributed to increasing automobile use and associated traffic congestion. In recognition of the health, social and environmental benefits of AST and the rights of children to a safe and healthy environment, cities across the world are implementing ‘School Streets’ programs, a form of traffic-calming designed to re-balance the public space around schools by restricting vehicular traffic near the school during when children arrive or depart. In Nova Scotia (Mi’kma’ki), Canada, School Streets projects are just beginning to be set up, providing an opportunity for evaluation of their implementation and impact.
Research Questions/Objectives
Our objective is to evaluate the implementation of two School Streets projects in one low income urban community and a rural community in Nova Scotia. We plan to do this through a mixed methods study comprising quantitative data from traffic counts and qualitative data from interviews with key groups (e.g., parents, students, school staff and volunteers) about the impact of the School Streets project on AST.
Study Area
Halifax (Kjipuktuk), an urban city of 530,000 people
New Glasgow, a rural town of 9,500 people
Timelines
2024-2025 – Halifax project
2022 – 2026 New Glasgow project
Participating Partners
Communities, Culture, Tourism and Heritage (Communities On The Move)
Town of New Glasgow