Room to Move

Between April and August, 2020, the City of Vancouver installed 40 km of slow streets on residential, low traffic streets, outside the city center. The selection of street reallocations were chosen based on existing traffic volume and access to green space and community amenities.

What kinds of neighbourhoods had access to street reallocations?

More street reallocations were in areas with lower income, more Indigenous people, more people of color, and more newcomers. These areas also have more people who ride a bike or use public transit to get to work.

Areas with more people who walk to work, and with more rental housing, tended to have fewer street reallocations, as did areas with more children (<15) and older adults (65+).

Victoria area municipalities reallocated 6.4 km of street space over the spring and summer. A main priority was expanding sidewalks in densely populated neighbourhoods to create safer access to essential businesses and services. The city also reallocated space in the popular Beacon Hill Park and along the adjacent Dallas Road waterfront pathway to support exercise and recreation, and closed two main downtown streets to make space for patios.

Victoria had the most existing active transportation infrastructure, and was amid implementing a complete, connected all ages and abilities bicycle network when the pandemic began. The city opted not to undertake quick, temporary slow streets interventions, but rather to focus energy on advancing their pre-existing plans for their bicycle network.

What kinds of neighbourhoods had access to street reallocations? (also see our 'Interactive maps' section)

The bulk of street reallocations happened in areas with the highest population density. Locating street reallocations in areas with higher population density is an approach to incorporate equity: there may be more need where there are more people concentrated (e.g., households may not have access to yards).

More reallocations were also in areas with high walkability, more people who use active transportation to get to work, and with greater access to grocery stores and health care facilities.

Areas with lower income, more Indigenous people, and more older adults (65+) also had more street reallocations, while areas with more people of color and more children had less.

Kelowna made one street reallocation—a 700 m street closure to motor vehicles along Bernard Ave—on June 29, 2020. The rationale was to support businesses in opening up patios, using road space to allow for physical distancing.

The street reallocation intervention was in a strategic location as Bernard Ave is a main street with numerous bars, restaurants, and shops, and is adjacent to the popular lakefront City Park. 

Bernard Ave is in an area of the city with the highest population density and good access to all essential destinations, as well as good walkability and the highest active transportation mode shares. In terms of social equity, the street reallocation was an area with a relatively high proportion of people of color and Indigenous people. Like Victoria, Kelowna’s downtown core tends to be an area with lower income.

Halifax had the most comprehensive response of the three mid-sized cities (Victoria, Kelowna, Halifax), implementing their  Halifax Mobility Response Plan: Streets and Spaces  starting in May, 2020.

The most notable intervention in Halifax was the installation over 16 km of slow (shared) streets that served to connect neighbourhoods to downtown Halifax and Dartmouth. Additional street reallocations included ~620 m of street space reallocated for sidewalk expansions and ~400 m for patio space. 

Halifax moved quickly to put in place temporary slow street interventions along corridors they had already identified as future bikeways, and on streets that residents identified through a crowdsourced webmap.

What kinds of neighbourhoods had access to street reallocations? (also see our 'Interactive maps' section)

Like Victoria, street reallocations were in areas with higher population density and more people who use active transportation to work, especially walking. Over three-quarters of the reallocations were in the areas with supportive active living environments (high walkability). They were also concentrated in areas with greater access to employment, health care facilities, pharmacies, and grocery stores.

Areas with lower income were well served, but there were less street reallocations in areas with more people of color and more Indigenous people. Areas with more children (<15) and older adults (65+) also did not have many street reallocations. 

This chart shows how street reallocations in Victoria were distributed for population, mobility, and access measures. We grouped each measure by quartiles such that quartile 1 (Q1) represents areas that may have a higher need for supports—these areas have the highest population density, poorer active living environments, less use of active transportation, and less proximity to essential destinations. On the other end, quartile 4 (Q4) has lower population density, better active living environments, greatest use of active transportation, and have better access to essential destinations.

If there was equal spatial distribution, each quartile would have 25% of the reallocation interventions. Of note, we can see that more than 75% of street reallocations were in areas with the highest population density. There were also more street reallocations in areas with better active living environments, higher active travel mode shares, and better access to essential destinations, especially grocery stores and health care facilities.

Note: Dissemination areas vary in size, so we divided the total length of street reallocations in each DA by the DA area (km2). This approach reduces differences (bias) based on DA sizes.

This set of maps shows COVID-19 street reallocations in Victoria overlaid with different sociodemographic measures, including the proportion of people who are Black, Indigenous, or people of color, household income, and the proportion of children (<15) and older adults (65+).

Street reallocations are shown in bright pink, overlaid on a base map of the existing bike network. You can select neighbourhood characteristics using the boxes below. These are shown in blue: the darkest blue represents areas where there is higher population density, better active living environments, more use of active transportation to work, and better access to essential destinations.

The maps show that street reallocations in Victoria tended to be in areas with fewer people of color or who are Black, and areas with fewer children, while areas with lower income, more Indigenous people, and more older adults had more.

This chart shows how street reallocations in Victoria were distributed for sociodemographic measures. We grouped each measure by quartiles such that quartile 1 (Q1) represents areas that have the highest proportions—the highest proportion of people of color, Black people, and Indigenous people, areas with the lowest income, and areas with more children and older adults. Quartile 4 (Q4) has fewer people of color, fewer Black and Indigenous people, higher income, and fewer children and older adults.

Most street reallocations were in lower income areas (70+%). These neighbourhoods tend to be concentrated downtown. More street reallocations were also in areas with more Indigenous people and more older adults, and in areas where there were fewer people of color, fewer Black people, and fewer children.

Note: Dissemination areas vary in size, so we divided the total length of street reallocations in each DA by the DA area (km2). This approach reduces differences (bias) based on area.

This set of maps shows COVID-19 street reallocations in Halifax, NS, overlaid with different measures for population density, active living environment, mobility, and access to essential destinations in each neighbourhood (Dissemination Area).

Street reallocations are shown in bright pink, overlaid on a base map of the existing bike network. You can select neighbourhood characteristics using the boxes below. These are shown in green: the darkest green represents areas where there is higher population density, better active living environments, more use of active transportation to work, and better access to essential destinations.

Like Victoria, street reallocations in Halifax tended to be downtown in areas with higher population densities, better active living environments, higher use of active transportation (especially walking to work), and overall better access to essential destinations.

This chart shows how street reallocations in Halifax were distributed for population, mobility, and access measures. We grouped each measure by quartiles such that quartile 1 (Q1) represents areas that may have a higher need for supports—these areas have the highest population density, poorer active living environments, less use of active transportation, and less proximity to essential destinations. On the other end, quartile 4 (Q4) has lower population density, better active living environments, greatest use of active transportation, and have better access to essential destinations.

If there was equal spatial distribution, each quartile would have 25% of the reallocation interventions. Instead, we can see that most street reallocations were in areas with the highest population density and best active living environments. There were also more street reallocations in areas with higher use of active transportation, especially walking to work, upwards of 65% of street reallocations were in areas with the greatest access to employment, health care, and pharmacies, and over 50% for access to grocery stores. 

Note: Dissemination areas vary in size, so we divided the total length of street reallocations in each DA by the DA area (km2). This approach reduces differences (bias) based on area.

This set of maps shows COVID-19 street reallocations in Halifax overlaid with different sociodemographic measures, including the proportion of people who are Black, Indigenous, or people of color, household income, and the proportion of children (<15) and older adults (65+).

Street reallocations are shown in bright pink, overlaid on a base map of the existing bike network. You can select neighbourhood characteristics using the boxes below. These are shown in blue: the darkest blue represents areas where there is higher population density, better active living environments, more use of active transportation to work, and better access to essential destinations.

Street reallocations in Halifax were slightly skewed toward areas with fewer people of color, who are Black, or who are Indigenous, and were fairly balanced across income, although areas with the highest income had few street reallocations. Areas with more children and older adults did not have many interventions.