Byoung-Suk Kweon, PhD and Jody Naderi, MLA. Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, Texas A&M University College of Architecture, 311A Langford Architecture Center, College Station, TX 77843, 979.458.1133, bsk@archone.tamu.edu

Mom knows best, especially where walking safety for her children is concerned. Even though parents know that walking makes their children healthy, they sense too much danger in the street. In this project, parents of young children in Bryan/College Station Texas, provide researchers with insights into how urban street design discourages healthy behavior. These insights, gathered during focus group discussions, were used to build six variations of virtual pedestrian worlds at Texas Transportation Institute (TTI). Variations in sidewalk location, buffer width and presence of trees were tested in the TTI simulator under real-time peak-hour traffic conditions. Twenty-seven parents participated in the simulator experiment, and “walked” through each world. They answered multiple-choice questions regarding parents’ willingness to walk and their perception of safety, as well as the parents’ willingness to let their children walk and their perception of safety for their children. The results from the original parent focus group were confirmed in the simulation experiment. Parents’ perception of overall safety is significantly different among the six pedestrian environments (F(5, 25)=27.26, p<.0001). Willingness to walk and perceived safety were significantly higher in pedestrian environments that had the sidewalk set back from the curb versus where the sidewalk was placed adjacent to the curb. Our conclusions confirm that the physical environment has a significant impact on establishing levels of physical activity in young children. The results from this study help establish health evidence based guidelines for community design.

Learning Objectives:

• Assess discrete physical constructs in pedestrian street environments.
• Discuss concerns that inhibit parents allowing their primary school children to walk to school along public streets.
• Create policy related to the urban design of safer pedestrian environments that encourage children to increase their physical activity through walking.

Keywords: Children and Adolescents, Community Planning

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.