School Walk Zone: Identifying Environments That Foster Walking and Biking to School

dc.contributor.authorKweon, Byoung-Suk
dc.contributor.authorShin, Woo-Hwa
dc.contributor.authorEllis, Christopher D.
dc.date.accessioned2023-10-16T15:42:48Z
dc.date.available2023-10-16T15:42:48Z
dc.date.issued2023-02-06
dc.description.abstractToday, few children walk or bike to school. According to the National Household Travel Survey, only 11% of children walk or bike to school. In 1969, almost 50% of children walked or biked to school in the US. Although our understanding is limited, previous research has shown that physical environments can influence non-automobile mode choices for travel to school. For example, landscape buffers and trees affect parents’ perceptions of their children’s safety and increase their willingness to let their children walk to school. We investigated how a number of physical attributes in the pedestrian environment influence children’s commutes to school. A total of 186 parents from four school walk zones in College Station, TX, participated in this study. We found that children walked more in neighborhoods with mature trees. Moreover, the mean walking and biking distances differed from each other, and both were influenced by the location of the school within the walk zones. Concerns about traffic safety and convenience were negatively related to walking and biking. The findings here suggest ways to shape better school walk zone guidelines that include neighborhood design, planning, and engagement in support of active and healthy children.
dc.description.urihttps://doi.org/10.3390/su15042912
dc.identifierhttps://doi.org/10.13016/dspace/5xld-m9v5
dc.identifier.citationKweon, B.-S.; Shin, W.-H.; Ellis, C.D. School Walk Zone: Identifying Environments That Foster Walking and Biking to School. Sustainability 2023, 15, 2912.
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/31008
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherMDPI
dc.relation.isAvailableAtCollege of Agriculture & Natural Resourcesen_us
dc.relation.isAvailableAtPlant Science & Landscape Architectureen_us
dc.relation.isAvailableAtDigital Repository at the University of Marylanden_us
dc.relation.isAvailableAtUniversity of Maryland (College Park, MD)en_us
dc.subjectcommute to school
dc.subjectchildren's health
dc.subjectschool walk zone
dc.subjectpedestrian environments
dc.subjectwalking and biking to school
dc.titleSchool Walk Zone: Identifying Environments That Foster Walking and Biking to School
dc.typeArticle
local.equitableAccessSubmissionNo

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