Getting kids to walk to school has been a nationwide campaign for years. But some places say it's just not safe. Some urban forms -- like that of Laguna Beach, California -- prove it.
NRDC's Kaid Benfield takes a look at the affluent city, its schools and why walking is not exactly the best option. But the schools themselves aren't doing much to counteract their own auto-dependence.
Referring to a picture of the school grounds, Benfield notes that "the sidewalk actually stops at the school entrance, guaranteeing that any kid who dares to walk to school will find herself immediately in the path of motor vehicles. And that definitely would not be a good thing: parents' traffic at Thurston, chauffering kids to and fro, has apparently gotten so heavy and unwieldy that the school has posted a flyer full of sternly worded cautionary rules and a complicated-looking traffic flow map."
FULL STORY: Want to walk to school? Laguna Beach says nope, not here
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
EMC Planning Group, Inc.
Planetizen
Planetizen
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service