Committee on Architecture for Education

This message has been cross posted to the following Discussion Forums: Regional and Urban Design Committee and Committee on Architecture for Education .
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I saw this article on a transportation blog I read, http://streetsblog.net/2013/09/19/seattle-reconsiders-school-design-to-get-kids-walking-again/, and wondered how much of a concern active living design is in siting and programming of new schools.  Are districts looking for ways to develop and redevelop schools to promote walking and bicycling as means for kids to get to school?  What sort of work do you do to develop school programs with Safe Routes to School thinking?

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Roger Retzlaff AIA
Green Bay WI
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Charles Graham AIA
Architect
O'Neal, Inc.
Greenville SC
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Thanks to forced busing of the sixties, almost all students live too far from school to travel safely by foot or by pedal, and otten too far by car or bus. The solution is political, not architectural. When my kids were in high school I could hear the football crowd at the nearest high school on Friday nights. My son went, instead to a lower quality school across town, literally. A five minute trip  by car to the closer school versus twenty minutes to the other school. 

And sometimes the problems are issues of design.  We led a "green streets" planning process along a highway corridor in a smaller community in north central Illinois where there were four schools within less than a mile that were otherwise accessable by walking or by riding a bicycle but were not because there were not safe routes.  Children had to cross a 5 lane high-speed highway without safe cross walks. And 4 foot wide narrow sidewalks directly abutted the highway - with telephone poles in the sidewalk.  People "designed" this situation where children had to be bussed across the highway to getto there school on the opposite side.

As an example - We were able to design much improved situation where we put a median in most of the center lane (which served as a sort of area of refuge), lowered the speed limit, eliminated two drive lanes (the median with perceived narrower"drag strip" and the lower speed limits calm the traffic) and installed bike paths (with rumble strip between cars and bikes) and which separated the pedestrians from the cars and widened the sidewalks.  The center median also provided stormwater detention, native plantings and trees for shade. The bicycle paths included pervious pavement for improved stormwater control and treatment.

Cheers,
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Ralph Bicknese AIA, LEED Fellow
Hellmuth + Bicknese Architects, LLC
St. Louis, MO
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-23-2013 20:54
From: Charles Graham
Subject: School Design - Getting Kids Walking and Bicycling Again



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Charles Graham AIA
Architect
O'Neal, Inc.
Greenville SC
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Thanks to forced busing of the sixties, almost all students live too far from school to travel safely by foot or by pedal, and otten too far by car or bus. The solution is political, not architectural. When my kids were in high school I could hear the football crowd at the nearest high school on Friday nights. My son went, instead to a lower quality school across town, literally. A five minute trip  by car to the closer school versus twenty minutes to the other school. 

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Charles Graham AIA
Architect
O'Neal, Inc.
Greenville SC
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Yea, speed limits are always enforced and followed. No, if that were for my kids, it is still not safe by any stretch. Rumble strips don't mean much to inatentive drivers, and neither do grassy medians. The silence about the number of kids moving from bussing to walking screamed out at me.






Original Message:
Sent: 09-24-2013 17:57
From: Ralph Bicknese
Subject: School Design - Getting Kids Walking and Bicycling Again

And sometimes the problems are issues of design.  We led a "green streets" planning process along a highway corridor in a smaller community in north central Illinois where there were four schools within less than a mile that were otherwise accessable by walking or by riding a bicycle but were not because there were not safe routes.  Children had to cross a 5 lane high-speed highway without safe cross walks. And 4 foot wide narrow sidewalks directly abutted the highway - with telephone poles in the sidewalk.  People "designed" this situation where children had to be bussed across the highway to getto there school on the opposite side.

As an example - We were able to design much improved situation where we put a median in most of the center lane (which served as a sort of area of refuge), lowered the speed limit, eliminated two drive lanes (the median with perceived narrower"drag strip" and the lower speed limits calm the traffic) and installed bike paths (with rumble strip between cars and bikes) and which separated the pedestrians from the cars and widened the sidewalks.  The center median also provided stormwater detention, native plantings and trees for shade. The bicycle paths included pervious pavement for improved stormwater control and treatment.

Cheers,
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Ralph Bicknese AIA, LEED Fellow
Hellmuth + Bicknese Architects, LLC
St. Louis, MO
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Boyd McAllister AIA
VCBO Architecture
Salt Lake City UT
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Many students live within walking distance in my area and their walks would be safe.
However, there is a cultural problem at work in the suburbs. More often than not, both parents are getting into two separate cars to commute to work at the same time their children are leaving for school. So why not spend 5-10 minutes of "Quality time" giving them a ride to school. In fact we heard of a family with 2 kids and 2 working parents and each morning the parents would ask "who do you want to ride with this morning?" Both kids attended the same elementary school and more often than not would arrive in 2 separate cars!
This is not an architectural problem or a traffic planning problem or a kid abduction problem. This is a car culture problem. We need to educate parents regarding the "dangers" associated with driving their children to school. Automobile, bicycle, pedestrian traffic conflicts are scary. But the big one is obesity and diabetes.






Original Message:
Sent: 09-23-2013 20:54
From: Charles Graham
Subject: School Design - Getting Kids Walking and Bicycling Again



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Charles Graham AIA
Architect
O'Neal, Inc.
Greenville SC
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Thanks to forced busing of the sixties, almost all students live too far from school to travel safely by foot or by pedal, and otten too far by car or bus. The solution is political, not architectural. When my kids were in high school I could hear the football crowd at the nearest high school on Friday nights. My son went, instead to a lower quality school across town, literally. A five minute trip  by car to the closer school versus twenty minutes to the other school. 

Getting kids and adults walking and biking to school is both a design and a cultural issue. As architects we have a role to play in the design part. As parents and citizens, we can do something about the cultural part, through advocacy and by modeling the behavior we want to see: by walking and riding whenever we can to school, the library, work, errands and play. The cultural is changing. People want to be able to do this. I think that architects, landscape architects, civil engineers, traffic consultants, and planners don't need to "educate" the public as much as they need to catch up with the public and design with pedestrian and bike traffic and parking given consideration equal to motor vehicle traffic beginning at the earliest concept design sketches.

Speed kills. "The speed of a vehicle is a major determinant in the severity of a crash. According to one study (and several other studies have found similar results), a pedestrian hit at 40 miles per hour has an 85 percent chance of fatality, while a pedestrian hit at 20 miles per hour has only a 5 percent chance of fatality".  http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/ped_bike/pssp/background/psafety.cfm

Speed limits can be enforced. Jurisdictions around here are using automated speed camera enforcement in school zones. Seattle is using the fines to make street and sidewalk safety improvements around the schools. Streets can be re-designed to reduce speeds improve sight lines, and increase pedestrian and bike safety while maintaining bus, truck and emergency vehicle access. Lots of resources are available. Here is a general one:  http://www.k12.wa.us/transportation/pubdocs/WalkRoutes.pdf'


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Donald Brubeck AIA
Associate
Bassetti Architects
Seattle WA
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