Reimagining Active School Transportation in the Acadia Park Neighborhood
Creators: name: Koski, Jessica
name: Hassen, Raihan
name: Street, Savonnae
Publisher: name: The University of British Columbia
Year: 2022

description: Acadia Park is a residential community within UBC that houses several families with school-aged children who commute to school. The goal of this project was to provide preliminary information and recommendations to UBC’s Campus and Community Planning (C+CP) to help inform possible further phases and next steps for a potential child-centered placemaking pilot project in the Acadia Park neighbourhood. The project was guided by three objectives: (1) to explore factors influencing active transportation for school children in the Acadia Park neighbourhood, (2) to identify opportunities to engage children in reimagining place-making efforts, and (3) to identify ways to support active transportation in the Acadia Park Neighbourhood. Literature related to active school transportation (AST) as well as child-centered engagement case studies for community planning and placemaking provided the conceptual background for the research. Prior to the research project, C+CP conducted a survey with over 200 parents across campus that identified safety concerns for active school transportation for their children. This project sought to build upon the survey’s initial findings by administering a secondary neighbourhood-focused survey, conducting an observation of the commute to a local elementary school, and leading a focus group to better understand perspectives on AST and placemaking opportunities. Observations revealed that there were two areas of interest within the Acadia Park Neighbourhood. One point of interest was the intersection of Melfa Road and Acadia Road, which was found to be congested during school drop-off, and was a safety hazard. The second area of interest was a trail leading to green space lying west of Melfa Road. This was observed to be a central area because it connected to main roads in the area and offered a frequently used pathway for children commuting to school. Through analysis of the survey responses and the focus group interview, the research team identified five major themes: 1) parents expressed anxiety and worry related to road and forest safety; 2) there was an appetite for education about active transportation safety; 3) active transportation was seen to be a model for community-building; 4) parents hoped for infrastructure changes to facilitate safer commutes; 5) parents encouraged inviting children into conversations about active transportation. The research findings and literature review suggest that reimagining active school transportation with youth can be successful when it is supported through collaborative partnerships and centres on principles of community-building and inclusiveness. In the process of reimagining active school transportation, the research team offers recommendations for future development. These recommendations include involving children in the design process, conducting research directly with children, increasing capacity for youth, and increasing efforts for building community. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”