How can we develop the concept of safe routes to school?
Safe Routes to School is currently being promoted in several Swedish cities, including Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö. Internationally, Paris is a well-known example – where 300 streets are to be turned into school streets by 2026. In several of these projects, children have been consulted and involved. But if children were allowed to decide for themselves what a safe route to school would look like, what would they actually come up with?
We tested this on Hallingsgatan, which is referred to in the now adopted planning programme for Lorensborg as ‘safe school route’. The answer was that the children wanted their school route to be like an adventure trail. Maybe it’s not so strange – that children need movement play after a full day at school?
What we learnt was that:1) 1) Child-friendly streets are not just safe – they are fun, and 2) when developing safe school streets, we should focus on the potential to create possible movement environments to play in, on the way home after long school days.
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A solution for safe routes to school
The adventure trail was designed and built by children/young people from Lorensborg School’s after-school programme, from year 3. These children wanted to be able to climb, balance and use their bodies, even on the way to school. “What if the way to school was an adventure trail! What if the way to school was fun!”
they mused.
Thoughts during the design process
An adventure trail, in what way? Along the way, we have come up with many ideas about this. We can tell you about a few that were a bit too overwhelming for us to incorporate: a slide in the shape of a sun where all the rays were different kinds of slides (at least 10 of them), or how about an obstacle course that stretches all the way from the bus stop to the entrance of Lorensborg School?
The Result
In the end, we built a climbing frame that could include several of the children’s ideas, such as a climbable photo wall and a slide. The playground is also meant to be connected to the pedestrian crossing, which the children painted with their own graphic motifs, on the street where it was missing. The idea is that children should be able to play and feel safe on their way to school. It should be clear who is prioritised on the safe route to school. Not just through a colourful pedestrian crossing – but also by reducing car space to make room for safe cycling. The car parks on the side of Hallingsgatan facing the school were proposed to be turned into a cycle lane. This would protect children cycling to school from cars and provide a buffer zone to the children’s playground.
