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Description
According to the 2019 Police Headquarters data, 41 children aged 0-6 and 727 kids aged 7-14 were hit by a car. Car traffic is often a threat for children playing by schools or on access roads to it. We will try to prevent it in Warsaw, as this is where we actively work on a daily basis and observe slow and insufficient changes in the field of pedestrian safety and alternatives to car traffic. We will start from engaging citizens in a debate on children in the city, their needs and rights related to safety, inviting parents, children, school representatives and city officials. Then we will recruit 5 schools willing to participate in the project, will initiate project groups that will work on prototypes of changes to school surroundings. We will run workshops on project designing, on mediation techniques, and on how to talk to local communities. We will select one project that we will implement in the form of a pilot – first we will consult it with people living by a given street located by a school, and then we will conduct an evaluation study. Based on these activities we will design a cooperation and good practice model for ‘school streets’. We will run a social campaign on various types of transport and their environmental impact. We will also talk to city authorities about a permanent change of school streets to make them safer. Our first partner is the Wzornictwo i Ład foundation that will support us with its knowledge about friendly designing of public spaces. Our second partner is Warszawski Alarm Smogowy that will help us promote the initiative thanks to its wide reach among grassroots movements for cleaner air.
Summary of project results
According to the data from the Police Headquarters in 2019, 41 children aged 0-6 and 727 children aged 7-14 were hit by cars. Car traffic is often a threat to children while playing near schools or on their way to school. In our efforts to address this issue, we focused on Warsaw, where we operate daily. We observed that there were slow and insufficient changes in pedestrian safety and alternatives to car traffic in the city.We began our actions by initiating a citizen debate on children in the city, their needs, and their rights related to safety. We invited parents, children, school representatives, and city officials to participate in this debate. We then recruited five schools willing to participate in the project and initiated project groups that created prototypes for changing the school environment. These project groups included parents, school administrators, teachers, school alumni, and local community organizations. We conducted workshops for these groups on project development and mediation, as well as engaging in discussions with the local community. Each group prepared a project that we implemented as a pilot. First, we consulted it with the residents of the street that hosts the school in question, and then we conducted evaluative research. Based on these actions, we created a model of collaboration and best practices around school streets. We also conducted a social campaign on various forms of transportation and their ecological consequences. Additionally, we engaged in discussions with city authorities about making permanent changes to school streets to make them safer.Our first partner was the Foundation for Design and Order, which supported us with their knowledge of creating pedestrian-friendly public spaces. Our second partner was the Warsaw Smog Alert, which helped us with promotion due to their involvement in grassroots movements for clean air.From the evaluative research, we know that the project participants increased their knowledge in areas related to health, ecology, daily transportation choices, social participation, mediation, and local activism. Furthermore, they received training in designing sustainable urban spaces, which will encourage them to be more involved in the design and organization of street improvements.
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