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Making kid-friendly cities: Lessons from two cities
Preventive Medicine 50 (2010) S95–S96
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Preventive Medicine j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s e v i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / y p m e d
Commentary
Making kid-friendly cities: Lessons from two cities Gordon Price a,⁎, Rodrigo Reis b a b
Simon Fraser University, City Program, 515 West Hastings Street, Room 2300, Vancouver, B.C., Canada Catholic University of Parana and Federal University of Parana, Curitiba, Brazil
At the Active Living Research conference in San Diego on February 19, 2009, a plenary session was devoted to some of the best examples of city planning, parks, and transportation infrastructure that can promote children's physical activity in cities. The goal was to use ideas and practices from other countries to stimulate creative thinking about how American cities can be made more kid-friendly for activity. In this commentary, speakers from North and South America present lessons from their respective cities—Vancouver in Canada and Curitiba in Brazil. Vancouver, Canada Gordon Price is Director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University, and was also a city councillor at the time Vancouver was planning and developing massive new neighbourhoods in its central area. He publishes an online newsletter about city planning:http://www.pricetags.ca/. In North America by the 1970s, the consequences of autodependent urban design had become apparent: a combination of low-density and separated land uses reinforced by road and parking standards that made the car the first if not only option for almost every trip. Walking and cycling became aberrations. But not in all cities. In an historic turning point, the City of Vancouver refused to build freeways, residential streets would be traffic calmed, and the transportation priorities of the city would be, first, the needs of pedestrians, then cyclists, then transit, then, and lastly, the car. By the late 1980s, Vancouver, having largely built out its residentially zoned capacity, looked to inner-city industrial brownfields to accommodate growth. Based on its initial success on the South Shore of False Creek and the development of Granville Island, the City established a policy framework for the master-planned private-sector “megaprojects” that would characterize development in the 1990s and 2000s. The land uses would be mixed, the densities higher, and the transportation active. The strategy would come to be known as “Living First.” Informally, it could be summarized this way: “If it works for kids, it works for everybody.” In other words, new neighbourhoods must be livable for families with children. That generality was refined into specifics when Council approved Guidelines for High-Density Housing for Families with Children (City of Vancouver, 1992) in 1992, developed in consultation with the child-care community and parents living in multiple-family accommodation. ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (G. Price). 0091-7435/$ – see front matter © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2009.10.013
These are some of the key statements: - Twenty family units in a single project is the suggested minimum. - Family units require a minimum of two bedrooms. - The family units should be grouped together in the most appropriate parts of the building … on lower floors or … facing a common outdoor play area. - Every floor with family units should have an observation point to overlook the children's play areas. - It is essential that landscape materials stand up to wear and tear with a mixture of hard and soft surfaces. - The value of some covered play area for rainy days should be considered. - It is desirable to provide private entries to units from the outside. - Sites for family housing should be within 0.4 km walking distance to a playground and a public transit stop. - Sites should be within 0.8 km walking distance of an elementary school and its outdoor play area, a day-care centre, an after-school care facility, a community centre, and grocery shopping. - Experience has shown that children will play everywhere; the entire site should be designed to withstand use by children. So, with respect to children, how did it turn out? In 2007–2008 students of the School of Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia conducted a postoccupancy study of Concord Pacific Place and Yaletown, under the guidance of past-city planner Larry Beasley and social planner Wendy Sarkissian (Wenman et al., 2008). Most importantly, the study found that, indeed, there were children living in these communities, more in some cases than in adjacent suburban neighbourhoods: - 13% of the population were under the age of 19 years. - 40% of households rented. - 50% are households for whom English was not their first language at home. Ironically, given the doubt that families with children would be attracted to high-density environments, the density of children created new problems. The elementary and daycare centres could not meet the demand and this lack has emerged as an important challenge for raising a family. Families rate their satisfaction with their buildings lower than do residents without children. In particular there were concerns regarding play space in the building itself and on the building grounds. As a result, parents take their children to the purpose-built
S96
G. Price, R. Reis / Preventive Medicine 50 (2010) S95–S96
play areas in nearby parks, sometimes overloading their capacity. However, residents are overwhelmingly satisfied with local parks, appreciated for their size, quantity, and wide open spaces. Families with children also express dissatisfaction with too few bedrooms, bathrooms, and small kitchens. They desire places at the front doors for the removal of shoes and play clothes. Only 15% of families indicated that mobility was a challenge to raising a family in False Creek North. Residents are less reliant on their car than their suburban counterparts, but few are willing to relinquish their cars completely—90% of the sample reported owning at least one car. Some residents are at a crossroads of car ownership, in that they use their cars so little that they are considering giving them up completely and using the cooperatives or car rentals instead. From personal observation and talking with parents with children, children in the megaprojects are not as different from their suburban counterparts as some might think. They are often driven to play and school, and are probably about as physically fit. Some who do not get sufficient play time out of their apartments enter elementary school in poorer physical shape than their counterparts. Some parents are reluctant to let their children cycle in the city, regardless of the presence of separated paths along the seawall. On the other hand, they walk much more than those who live in suburbia, and it's likely that this way of moving about the built environment will continue to be reinforced over time. Curitba, Brazil Dr. Rodrigo Reis is a professor at the Pontiff Catholic University of Parana and Federal University of Parana in Curtiba, Brazil. Dr. Reis is on the Board of Brazilian Society for physical Activity and Consultant in the Ministry of Health and National Industrial Social Service. Physical inactivity among youth is particularly challenging in Latin America where, despite the economic growth observed in last decade, there are still major social and health inequalities. Considering Brazil as a case, 2 out of 10 adolescents do not engage in recommended levels of physical activity, and the rate is lower among lower socioeconomic status youth (Tassitano et al., 2007). However, countries throughout Latin America are developing and evaluating innovative approaches to physical activity focused on youth. For instance, a recent study reviewing community-based physical activity intervention studies in Latin America provided strong evidence of the effectiveness of school-based physical education programs (Hoehner et al., 2008). A recent study showed that use of infrastructure, such as parks, by young people was high, but physical activity practice was related to the social context, particularly the perception of safety (Reis et al., 2009). To address such barriers, Latin American communities are combining the use of public spaces and the offering of programs to attract youth and families to enjoy an active lifestyle. Curitiba, the seventh biggest city in Brazil, is recognized for its creativity in facing severe problems associated with urban devel-
opment, such as traffic congestion, loss of public space, and adverse environmental impacts, similar to those found in other large urban agglomerations across Latin America (Tapia Granados, 1998). The Municipal Sports and Leisure Secretary and the Municipal Health Secretary coordinate and promote public physical activity programs throughout the city, which are mostly carried out in public parks and recreation facilities, such as plazas and bicycling and walking paths. Several activity programs are offered for youth throughout the year with no cost to citizens. These activities are a combination of sports (such as School Games and Sports Initiation Program) and recreational experiences. The City has also built a decentralized administration model combining services and places. For instance, each of the nine regional governments has sports and leisure centers, located in public spaces called “Rua da Cidadania” (Citizenship Street), where several public services are provided. This combination of public services and physical activity opportunities in one location is an example of how to attract families to use services while providing children a chance to be physically active. Because the parks and recreation facilities are not evenly distributed in the city, some people may not have the same access, so physical activity programs need to be delivered in a different way. In communities where structured parks and plazas are not available, “special buses” transport trained staff and recreational activities for all age groups to whatever space is available and use affordable and low maintenance materials. The case of Curitiba demonstrates multiple innovative ways to address major barriers to youth physical activity common in Latin American communities, including lack of resources and social inequality, by using whatever public space is available, bringing programs to all parts of the city, and using a family-oriented approach. Curitiba's approaches of linking people, places, and programs can be adapted for promoting youth physical activity in other parts of the world. Conflict of interest statement All authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
References City of Vancouver, 1992. High-Density Housing for Families with Children Guidelines. [Online] City of Vancouver Land Use and Development Policies and Guidelines. Available at: http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/Guidelines/H004.pdf [Accessed 10 August 2009]. Hoehner, C.M., Soares, J., Parra Perez, D., et al., 2008. Physical activity interventions in Latin America: a systematic review. Am. J. Prev. Med. 34 (3), 224–233. Reis, R.S., Hino, A.A.F., Florindo, A.A., Rodriguez Añez, C.R., Domingues, M.R., 2009. Association between physical activity in parks and perceived environment: a study with adolescents. J. Phys. Act. Health 6 (4), 503–509. Tapia Granados, J.A., 1998. Reducing automobile traffic: an urgent policy for health promotion. Rev. Panam. Salud Publica 3 (4), 227–241. Tassitano, R.M., Bezerra, J., Tenório, M.C.M., Colares, V., Barros, M.V.G., Hallal, P.C., 2007. Atividade física em adolescentes brasileiros: uma revisão sistemática. Rev. Bras. Cineantropom. Desempenho Hum. 9 (1), 55–60. Wenman, C., Hofer, N., Lancaster, J., Sarkissian, W., Beasley, L., 2008. Living in False Creek North: from the residents' perspective. [Online] The University of British Columbia. Available at: http://www.sfu.ca/city/PDFs/POEBrochure_ FINALFORINTERNET_June17.pdf. [Accessed 29 September 2009].
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Preventive Medicine j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s e v i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / y p m e d
Commentary
Making kid-friendly cities: Lessons from two cities Gordon Price a,⁎, Rodrigo Reis b a b
Simon Fraser University, City Program, 515 West Hastings Street, Room 2300, Vancouver, B.C., Canada Catholic University of Parana and Federal University of Parana, Curitiba, Brazil
At the Active Living Research conference in San Diego on February 19, 2009, a plenary session was devoted to some of the best examples of city planning, parks, and transportation infrastructure that can promote children's physical activity in cities. The goal was to use ideas and practices from other countries to stimulate creative thinking about how American cities can be made more kid-friendly for activity. In this commentary, speakers from North and South America present lessons from their respective cities—Vancouver in Canada and Curitiba in Brazil. Vancouver, Canada Gordon Price is Director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University, and was also a city councillor at the time Vancouver was planning and developing massive new neighbourhoods in its central area. He publishes an online newsletter about city planning:http://www.pricetags.ca/. In North America by the 1970s, the consequences of autodependent urban design had become apparent: a combination of low-density and separated land uses reinforced by road and parking standards that made the car the first if not only option for almost every trip. Walking and cycling became aberrations. But not in all cities. In an historic turning point, the City of Vancouver refused to build freeways, residential streets would be traffic calmed, and the transportation priorities of the city would be, first, the needs of pedestrians, then cyclists, then transit, then, and lastly, the car. By the late 1980s, Vancouver, having largely built out its residentially zoned capacity, looked to inner-city industrial brownfields to accommodate growth. Based on its initial success on the South Shore of False Creek and the development of Granville Island, the City established a policy framework for the master-planned private-sector “megaprojects” that would characterize development in the 1990s and 2000s. The land uses would be mixed, the densities higher, and the transportation active. The strategy would come to be known as “Living First.” Informally, it could be summarized this way: “If it works for kids, it works for everybody.” In other words, new neighbourhoods must be livable for families with children. That generality was refined into specifics when Council approved Guidelines for High-Density Housing for Families with Children (City of Vancouver, 1992) in 1992, developed in consultation with the child-care community and parents living in multiple-family accommodation. ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (G. Price). 0091-7435/$ – see front matter © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2009.10.013
These are some of the key statements: - Twenty family units in a single project is the suggested minimum. - Family units require a minimum of two bedrooms. - The family units should be grouped together in the most appropriate parts of the building … on lower floors or … facing a common outdoor play area. - Every floor with family units should have an observation point to overlook the children's play areas. - It is essential that landscape materials stand up to wear and tear with a mixture of hard and soft surfaces. - The value of some covered play area for rainy days should be considered. - It is desirable to provide private entries to units from the outside. - Sites for family housing should be within 0.4 km walking distance to a playground and a public transit stop. - Sites should be within 0.8 km walking distance of an elementary school and its outdoor play area, a day-care centre, an after-school care facility, a community centre, and grocery shopping. - Experience has shown that children will play everywhere; the entire site should be designed to withstand use by children. So, with respect to children, how did it turn out? In 2007–2008 students of the School of Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia conducted a postoccupancy study of Concord Pacific Place and Yaletown, under the guidance of past-city planner Larry Beasley and social planner Wendy Sarkissian (Wenman et al., 2008). Most importantly, the study found that, indeed, there were children living in these communities, more in some cases than in adjacent suburban neighbourhoods: - 13% of the population were under the age of 19 years. - 40% of households rented. - 50% are households for whom English was not their first language at home. Ironically, given the doubt that families with children would be attracted to high-density environments, the density of children created new problems. The elementary and daycare centres could not meet the demand and this lack has emerged as an important challenge for raising a family. Families rate their satisfaction with their buildings lower than do residents without children. In particular there were concerns regarding play space in the building itself and on the building grounds. As a result, parents take their children to the purpose-built
S96
G. Price, R. Reis / Preventive Medicine 50 (2010) S95–S96
play areas in nearby parks, sometimes overloading their capacity. However, residents are overwhelmingly satisfied with local parks, appreciated for their size, quantity, and wide open spaces. Families with children also express dissatisfaction with too few bedrooms, bathrooms, and small kitchens. They desire places at the front doors for the removal of shoes and play clothes. Only 15% of families indicated that mobility was a challenge to raising a family in False Creek North. Residents are less reliant on their car than their suburban counterparts, but few are willing to relinquish their cars completely—90% of the sample reported owning at least one car. Some residents are at a crossroads of car ownership, in that they use their cars so little that they are considering giving them up completely and using the cooperatives or car rentals instead. From personal observation and talking with parents with children, children in the megaprojects are not as different from their suburban counterparts as some might think. They are often driven to play and school, and are probably about as physically fit. Some who do not get sufficient play time out of their apartments enter elementary school in poorer physical shape than their counterparts. Some parents are reluctant to let their children cycle in the city, regardless of the presence of separated paths along the seawall. On the other hand, they walk much more than those who live in suburbia, and it's likely that this way of moving about the built environment will continue to be reinforced over time. Curitba, Brazil Dr. Rodrigo Reis is a professor at the Pontiff Catholic University of Parana and Federal University of Parana in Curtiba, Brazil. Dr. Reis is on the Board of Brazilian Society for physical Activity and Consultant in the Ministry of Health and National Industrial Social Service. Physical inactivity among youth is particularly challenging in Latin America where, despite the economic growth observed in last decade, there are still major social and health inequalities. Considering Brazil as a case, 2 out of 10 adolescents do not engage in recommended levels of physical activity, and the rate is lower among lower socioeconomic status youth (Tassitano et al., 2007). However, countries throughout Latin America are developing and evaluating innovative approaches to physical activity focused on youth. For instance, a recent study reviewing community-based physical activity intervention studies in Latin America provided strong evidence of the effectiveness of school-based physical education programs (Hoehner et al., 2008). A recent study showed that use of infrastructure, such as parks, by young people was high, but physical activity practice was related to the social context, particularly the perception of safety (Reis et al., 2009). To address such barriers, Latin American communities are combining the use of public spaces and the offering of programs to attract youth and families to enjoy an active lifestyle. Curitiba, the seventh biggest city in Brazil, is recognized for its creativity in facing severe problems associated with urban devel-
opment, such as traffic congestion, loss of public space, and adverse environmental impacts, similar to those found in other large urban agglomerations across Latin America (Tapia Granados, 1998). The Municipal Sports and Leisure Secretary and the Municipal Health Secretary coordinate and promote public physical activity programs throughout the city, which are mostly carried out in public parks and recreation facilities, such as plazas and bicycling and walking paths. Several activity programs are offered for youth throughout the year with no cost to citizens. These activities are a combination of sports (such as School Games and Sports Initiation Program) and recreational experiences. The City has also built a decentralized administration model combining services and places. For instance, each of the nine regional governments has sports and leisure centers, located in public spaces called “Rua da Cidadania” (Citizenship Street), where several public services are provided. This combination of public services and physical activity opportunities in one location is an example of how to attract families to use services while providing children a chance to be physically active. Because the parks and recreation facilities are not evenly distributed in the city, some people may not have the same access, so physical activity programs need to be delivered in a different way. In communities where structured parks and plazas are not available, “special buses” transport trained staff and recreational activities for all age groups to whatever space is available and use affordable and low maintenance materials. The case of Curitiba demonstrates multiple innovative ways to address major barriers to youth physical activity common in Latin American communities, including lack of resources and social inequality, by using whatever public space is available, bringing programs to all parts of the city, and using a family-oriented approach. Curitiba's approaches of linking people, places, and programs can be adapted for promoting youth physical activity in other parts of the world. Conflict of interest statement All authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
References City of Vancouver, 1992. High-Density Housing for Families with Children Guidelines. [Online] City of Vancouver Land Use and Development Policies and Guidelines. Available at: http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/Guidelines/H004.pdf [Accessed 10 August 2009]. Hoehner, C.M., Soares, J., Parra Perez, D., et al., 2008. Physical activity interventions in Latin America: a systematic review. Am. J. Prev. Med. 34 (3), 224–233. Reis, R.S., Hino, A.A.F., Florindo, A.A., Rodriguez Añez, C.R., Domingues, M.R., 2009. Association between physical activity in parks and perceived environment: a study with adolescents. J. Phys. Act. Health 6 (4), 503–509. Tapia Granados, J.A., 1998. Reducing automobile traffic: an urgent policy for health promotion. Rev. Panam. Salud Publica 3 (4), 227–241. Tassitano, R.M., Bezerra, J., Tenório, M.C.M., Colares, V., Barros, M.V.G., Hallal, P.C., 2007. Atividade física em adolescentes brasileiros: uma revisão sistemática. Rev. Bras. Cineantropom. Desempenho Hum. 9 (1), 55–60. Wenman, C., Hofer, N., Lancaster, J., Sarkissian, W., Beasley, L., 2008. Living in False Creek North: from the residents' perspective. [Online] The University of British Columbia. Available at: http://www.sfu.ca/city/PDFs/POEBrochure_ FINALFORINTERNET_June17.pdf. [Accessed 29 September 2009].