Walk and Talk!

Walk and Talk is an initiative based on tactical urbanism approach which is a community led action to neighborhood building using short-term, low-cost, and scalable interventions to catalyze long-term change.

• The objective is to create a safe environment for children to walk and talk on their journey to and from school.
• By engaging the city, school, children and parents into painting a well designed, colorful large intersection mural and crosswalk to delineate a traffic circle, slowing down drivers and creating a safer crossing for people on foot and bicycle and a boosting their sense of ownership and responsibility towards their community.

Image for a neighborhood in South Tucson, Arizona transforming their school crossing with a tactical urbanism traffic circle.

Interview with Mrs. Jenkins, Principal of E. Titche elementary, Dallas ISD.

"When there is traffic rush on the morning carpool, we become task oriented, all we think about is to get the children safe inside the school and on time, Unlike a day with fewer cars approaching the school, we get the chance to socialize and become people"

"We find we don't need to intervene much with children who comes walking to school, they come laughing and talking to each other"

Each community have an opportunity to The construction of pervious sidewalks and bike trails to decrease traffic jam at drop off/ pick up line in front of the school. Improve air quality with reduced traffic around school. on the other hand, by integrating green land cover and Trees as shading structures, the storm water runoff can be mitigated, the urban heat island effect will decrease which in return can result in reduction in the energy consumption used for cooling buildings, hence reduces GHG emissions.

• Image: Comparing CO2 per person KM travelled.

Access to parks, landscaped plazas, and pedestrian-oriented sidewalks can provide the relief for the overloaded mind

Our mental and physical health is inextricably linked to the connections between ourselves and the natural world, as well as social connections between individuals. This happens much more often when urban space is designed (and designed well) to prioritize people over vehicles.

Image: drawings are done by elementary school children at Edward Titche school ( South Dallas) during an activity where we asked them to sketch their feeling best place at their school.

• Air pollution is an important factor in health outcomes and health-care expenditure. It has become an important issue of global concern.

• Promoting active transportation and reducing the number of cars driving to schools can help provide better air quality around schools.

Picture in front of Haun elementary school at dismissal time.

The decline in walking and bicycling has had an adverse effect on traffic congestion and air quality which affected wellbeing of children, as well as pedestrian and bicycle safety.

Low-income, children are more likely to live in unsafe areas with poor Infrastructure.

A growing body of evidence has shown that children who lead sitting lifestyles are at risk for a variety of health problems such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

Motor Vehicle Death Rate in Texas with DFW are among the highest.

1)     According to State Highway Safety Offices and U.S. Census Bureau, A 2018 statistics stated that, the rate of Pedestrian Fatalities Per 100K Population in Texas is 2.1. While 22% Pedestrian Fatalities by Roadway Function Class is on Local Streets (which typically serve residential areas and downtown traffic.

2)   The number of pedestrian fatalities involving SUVs increased at a greater rate from 2009-2018 at 81% during this 10-year period compared to fatalities involving passenger cars.

3)  The rate of deadly accidents has been related to SUVs and Pick-up trucks which are 2 of the most owned vehicles in Texas.

Nationally representative data that describe school demographic characteristics and the impact of active transportation policies on improving active transportation rates are lacking.

Nonetheless, strategies promoted to improve active school transport exist;

• they include adopting a safe-routes-to-school program,

• providing bicycle racks,

• Implementing walking school buses (in which students walk in groups)

School children who resides in a radius of 2 mile or less from school, are not permitted the free service of riding the school bus, yet there is not a safe alternative provided for them than to ride with their parents.

The percent of children using active transportation to school (including walking and bicycling) dropped from 42% in 1969 to about 16% in 2001 (US CDC, 2008).

• Parents' survey
• Children's' interviews
• Principal and Teachers' interview

Site Analysis:

• School connectivity
• Crossing guard
• Walking buses
• Law enforcement official to promote traffic safety near the school
• Law enforcement official to prevent crime near the school

Identifying site barriers

• School has no maintained crosswalks
• No crossing guard
• No law enforcement to promote traffic safety
• No law enforcement to prevent crime near the school

Identifying site barriers

Interviews:

• Interview with Mrs. Burnet, school Counselor

• School has well maintained sidewalks but no enough buffer from vehicles.
• City withdraw crossing guard Fall 2021
• No safe bike lanes
• No walking bus

Safety issues are a big concern for parents, who consistently cite traffic danger as well as the lake of proper sidewalks and cross guards as a reason why their children are unable to bicycle or walk to school.

Interviewing children in Haun elementary school in the neighborhood.

• Shuja 4th grade:
• My parents say it is dangerous to walk. Some bad people could kidnap me.

• Rashan 3rd grade:
• I don't feel safe crossing the intersection alone.

• Suraj 4th grade:
• The may weather get cold. I wish I can bike to school.

• Adam 5th grade:
• I go to school by car because it is not safe to cross the intersection. I wish i can bike but not walk to school. If I walked it smells bad and also hot next to cars and school bus.

Biking to Haun elementary

• Traffic moving at high speeds, often caused by street designs that prioritize vehicles.
• I observed many drivers looking at their phone while in the school zone area.

• Lack of infrastructure that caters for children.
• The absence of safe places to walk or bike for children on the street.
• The large intersections is a huge obstacle for children to cross the street safely.

• Vehicle Design: pedestrians hit by SUVs, are significantly more likely to be severely injured. Due to vehicle height, it's harder to see children.

• Lack of exposure to nature: streets with no or very few trees lack shading

• Urban Heat Island: Large areas of asphalt and impervious surfaces contribute to higher temperatures which cause extreme discomfort affecting children.

• Children: The leading role on the initiative. They by instinct ask to be in the outdoors playing and learning rather than sitting in a closed classroom or in front of video games.

The Children who participated in the walking bus said they enjoyed walking safely to school with friends.

• The City: Can have an active role by providing support for community initiative.

• The school: schools roles differed according to the existing surrounding infrastructure. E.T. for example needs a law enforcement to promote traffic safety and prevent crime, whilst Haun needs a crossing guard at the intersection.

• Parents: Many parents welcomed the initiative to walk to school, they understand the benefits behind.

• Tx-dot grant for enhancing sidewalks and bike trails within cities with population less than 200,000
• Local Businesses support (CSR)
• Local artists providing design for the artwork ( sour grapes)
• City of Plano sustainable community grant ( currently waiting on a response)

• Non Profit organization support ( Better Block) - Interview with Krista Nightengale.
• City of Dallas Vision zero" a collaborative and comprehensive approach to improving traffic safety through engineering, enforcement, education, evaluation, and equity."
• Safe routes to schools national center

Developing an app through the school districts that would enable parents to communicate and arrange walking and biking buses. ( Waze?)

All current interventions/ frameworks shown previously are not packed by a Policy that can push these frameworks forward and examine their functionality.

• Design for streets for children and bike lanes within a 1 mile radius around schools in DFW areas is an investment in the wellbeing of future generations and closer step towards a resilient environment. That's a cooperation between the city and the school. while the community leaders role can be in raising the awareness of walking and biking benefits to the children and the school.

• Mapping the quality of infrastructure per city will identify the most area with required immediate attention.

• Zoning new schools' locations.

Change is needed in the way we design elementary school surrounding environment to activate safe active transportation among children.

Seeking a safer school zone for school children, parents, and school staff can be achieved through community engagement.

A Community project for Grahamwood Artistic school zone in Memphis:

After the Grahamwood PTO raised and secured funding, they held a paint the pavement party for the crosswalks.