A New Initiative: Children’s Walks
November 14, 2019 by admin
Transportation
Engaging and Recognizing Youth as Active Members of their Community
The purpose of this article is to introduce the APA Ambassador Program to members of Utah APA. Also demonstrate ideas of how planners can engage with their local community and inspire the next generation of planners through Children’s Walks.
To begin, my interest to involve children in planning did not occur overnight. Through my planning studies, conversations with others and research, I became aware of a division between children, nature, public health and planning. I have been seeking a way to close the divide ever since.
In the Fall of 2014, I was introduced to the Orton Foundation and the Heart and Soul Process. The Heart and Soul Process is not the traditional approach to planning and places a higher significance on “Value-Based Planning” and “Community Engagement”. More importantly to note is different age groups were involved as part of the engagement strategy, particularly that the strength of change often times came from children. Children were allowed in many cases to share their stories or bring projects to fruition.
In the Spring of 2015, I was working on my capstone project “Listening to Springdale” led by Professor Stephen Goldsmith. The project was noteworthy and received an APA Award in 2016. The biggest takeaway from the project was the art of listening. We discovered that listening as a tool in planning leads to insight and understanding. Listening can improve residents view of their voice in the community.
I soon after was acquainted with Jane Jacobs Walks through the Center of the Living City. Jane Jacobs Walk is a series of free neighborhood walking, biking, and transit tours that help put people in touch with their environment and with the people who live in their community. Jane Jacobs believed strongly that local residents understood best how their neighborhood works and what is needed to strengthen and improve them. By engaging and literature, the Director, Grant Allen and I became enthralled in the idea of involving children in planning and the mechanism of doing so.
In the intervening time, the American Planning Association reenacted the APA Ambassador Program as a pilot. The APA Ambassador Program is volunteer activity conducted by members of the American Planning Association with the goal of increasing awareness and understanding of the power and value that the planning profession brings to communities. Particular emphasis is placed on reaching audiences of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. As an Ambassador, you are tasked to conduct two events in a year span in which engage youth of all ages. The activity should include a conversation about basic concepts of planning and the planning profession, the benefits and value of APA and an activity that bring those concepts to a community and personal level.
To gain further understand of activities already in the making I participated in the Discover Architecture + Planning at the University of Utah and Box City (Riverton). I quickly realized involving children in the planning process is not a new concept, such is the reason for community youth councils. The interesting takeaway from these activities was the fact that a strong desire to be involved exists and that children have a creative mind to do so.
To complete my research, I was placed in touch with the United Way of Salt Lake and invited to discuss “Planning as a Career” to their After-School Program at South Kearns Elementary. As I introduced basic concepts of planning the idea of “Walking” was at the center of our discussion. I asked simple questions such as:
- What do you see when you walk?
- Where is your favorite place to walk to?
- What would you take pictures of?
- What makes you happy?
- When you walk are their places that make you scared?
- What is your favorite route to school? Why?
The outcome and their answers were monumental. They were more than willing to share their stories. Not only were the students faced with safety issues on a daily basis but they noticed lack of infrastructure in their built environment to walk to school. As expected their neighborhood perspective was on point but they lacked the opportunity to have ever known regional landmarks. The idea of City Creek, The Gateway, Temple Square was extraneous to them. Leaving the school, I was in dismay. Finally, the idea of Children’s Walks was born. I wanted to give the children the opportunity.
In the Summer of 2016, I held the first official Children’s Walk of downtown Salt Lake City. Partnering with the Utah Chalk Festival and Jane Jacobs Walk, the idea was to create a mural based on what the children learned or observed through the walk. Along the walk we discussed Economics, Transportation, Urban Design, Environmentalism, Public Places, the SLC Grid System and Urban Ecology (Systematic Thinking). One may think those are quite complex planning concepts however I was surprised how relatable they were for children and parents alike. The outcome of the event was a success. The Children’s Chalk Drawings were placed on display for the remainder of Chalk Festival therefore giving back to the community.
Most recently, my Community Development Director, Paul Allred challenged me to bring the focus inward and apply the idea of Children’s Walks in our local community in Holladay. Backed by the City Manager and City Council I conducted a children’s walk on August 5, 2017. The focus of the walk was to tour the Village Area and other local amenities. Our Senior Planner presented the history of Holladay and how the community has changed to the group. After leaving the local library, we headed to the bike shop where the children learned about bicycle safety and bike lanes. The key for me as a planner was to observe and listen. The walk was great to spur the neighborhood walks program and a similar event is already planned for next year.
Children’s Walks are a great way to engage children of all ages in their local communities but also is a strategic way for planners to receive feedback and be involved. Children benefit by learning about the forces the shape our towns and cities and how they can get involved to improve our built and natural environments. Children’s Walks present an active lifestyle and can improve public health. It presents parents with an opportunity hear what children see and feel. Children’s Walks can be used to introduce children to new places such as downtown. Jane Jacob’s believed sidewalks should serve as a place of safety for children and a place to make friendships. The APA Ambassador Program is national initiative that I am grateful to be a part of. I am grateful to inspire the next generation of planners. I would challenge other cities and towns to conduct Children’s Walks of their own and register them with Jane Jacobs Walks.
For more information please visit the following links:
https://www.planning.org/diversity/ambassadors/
http://www.janejacobswalk.org/
Recent News
- Hey, Utahns—stop driving your car
- Art as Daily Experience in Ogden’s Nine Rails Creative District
- Award Spotlight: 2020 Kearns General Plan and Resilience + Infrastructure Element
- Award Spotlight: Salt Lake City Reimagines Nature
- LET’S TALK! AND TALK. AND TALK SOME MORE…
- A Minnesota Judge Throws the Book at Immoral Tax Assessments
- The Great Rebalance
- To Fully Observe, We Need to Walk
- Study reveals that Utah housing prices have increased 200% in two decades
- DOUBLE WHAMMY
- The Office of the Property Rights Ombudsman
- Gov. Cox hails ‘generational’ effort in Utah’s water law history
- Clamor is King
- Utah Is Building a ’15-Minute City’ From Scratch
- Quality of Life – A Dishonest Approach to Change in Neighborhood Character
- Changing the Rules of Zoning
- Growth & Change In the West: 2022 RMLUI Conference Recap
- Vernacular Is Beautiful—If We Would Just Allow It
- APAUT Spring Conference Follow-up and Pictures
- To Airbnb or Not to Airbnb
- The Costs of Wide Streets in the U.S.
- APAUT President’s Message – March 2022
- How should we decide the fate of Utah Lake?
- How the Utah Legislature continues to usurp power from city and county government
- What to know about residential care facilities in your neighborhood
- University of Utah Professor Named the 3rd Most Cited Planning Faculty in the World
- TWO BIG BILLS OUT
- Examining the Impact of London’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing
- May We all Grow Together: Cultivating Support for Utah’s Emerging Planners
- A Commitment to Change
- Okay Boomer
- APAUT Book Discussion: Evicted by Matthew Desmond
- Economic Development After the Rise of Telework
- Follow the 2022 Legislative Session
- After the Bennett Freeze: Planning Within the Navajo Nation
- Flexible Zoning for the New Economy
- Lead and Inspire with Purpose: AICP Code of Ethics Update
- Janet Quinney Lawson – Institute for Land, Water & Air
- Emerging Planners Survey
- Plan to restore Utah Lake met with resistance from Utah County conservation groups
- New Murray projects and guidelines move forward as moratorium ends
- From the Office of Dodge, Wiggle, Hack, Shrug & DeCamp, LLC
- Land Use Training
- Paul Allred: Career Reflections & Valuable Advice – Part 3
- Cache Summit 2021
- WAVE HIKING PERMIT CHANGES ON THE WAY
- Paul Allred: Career Reflections & Valuable Advice (Part 2)
- Paul Allred: Career Reflections & Valuable Advice
- UDOT seeks public input on rural Utah transportation plans
- Electric Vehicles Are on the Rise. Is Your Community Ready?
- Call for Award Nominations
- Fifteen-Minute City
- Remember Olympia Hills?
- The Mountain Lions: these nine cities boomed in the COVID era
- AS PLANNERS, WHY DO WE DO WHAT WE DO, AND WHY ARE WE DOING IT?
- Andrea Garfinkel-Castro, doctoral candidate, “Unpacks” Latino Urbanism
- 11 Ways To Excel Ethically At Every Level
- Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD): core principles
- A Tale of Two Walks: Part 2
- Heat, Health & Equity: The Effects of High Temperatures on Health, and Ways to Mitigate Heat in Our City
- Help Shape Equity Planning Policy
- DO CITIES HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO BAN FIREWORKS?
- Air Quality Is Better In Utah Today Than Ten Years Ago, But…
- Layton council adopts water-saving landscaping requirements for most new development
- CAREFUL WHOM YOU CALL A NIMBY
- Considering A National Infrastructure Bank
- HEALTHY UTAH COMMUNITY
- Breaking Down Silos: The Inception of the Utah Rural Coordinating Council
- MAG Transit Studies
- Effective Public Engagement Requires a Lot More Than a Public Hearing
- Is Remote Work Here to Stay?
- SENSITIVE LANDS PLANNING: PROTECTING PUBLIC HEALTH, SAFETY, AND WELFARE FOR GENERATIONS TO COME
- Bond Ratings are for Investors (Not Taxpayers)
- It’s Complicated (Ok, you’ve heard that before, but maybe not for this topic – billboards.)
- The Color of Law APAUT Online Book Discussion
- The American Jobs Plan Will Make Our Infrastructure Crisis Worse
- President’s Infrastructure Proposal Includes Addressing Housing Affordability
- We Cannot Plan from Our Desks
- Rep. Curtis, Sen. Romney introduce bill to advance the Bonneville Shoreline Trail
- Utah could lose out on billions in federal funding for passenger rail
- The Cure for the Wasatch Front’s Housing Crisis: More Affordable Homes Between North Salt Lake and Lehi
- Ambassador Program Update
- Local Needs Among Utah’s Multicultural Communities During the COVID-19 Pandemic
- Campus Mobility Hub Study – APAUT Award Winner
- Does Building New Housing Reduce Overall Housing Costs?
- Layton Forward – Layton City’s Comprehensive General Plan Update
- Spring Conference Postponed, Book Club, President’s Message
- Presidents Message
- Lehi Connectivity Standards – A Stronger Urban Fabric
- Housing First; Cars Last
- UDOT Bike Infrastructure Data Collection Project
- The Great Horizon Year of 2020
- Density is a Loaded Term
- New Study on Housing Affordability Focuses on Local Land Use Practices
- There is no such thing as ‘smart sprawl’
- Legislative Interim Committee – What You Need To Know
- A bipartisan opportunity to rebuild American infrastructure
- Zoning laws aren’t the only things hindering Utah’s housing market
- Congratulations to the APAUT 2020 Award Winners
- State and Local Governments Must Further Address Housing Affordability
- The Status of Women Leaders in Government – Utah Cities and Towns
- We have to do something about Utah’s housing crisis
- What the Wasatch Front needs is more basement apartments
- Cities Don’t Need High-Rises to Become Affordable
- Away from the bustle: Covid-19 and the end of commuterland
- The Color of Law: A Book Review
- (Contract) Zoning by Agreement in Utah
- Zoning Reform Is Not Leftism
- “The Great Localization” COVID-19 and Opportunities for Communities
- Missing Middle Housing: Thinking Big and Building Small to Respond to Today’s Housing Crisis
- Zoning Reform – English Style
- 3 Stories Show the Flip Side Of Zoning Reform
- APAUT Call to Action
- The Politics of Housing Affordability
- Zoning, Affordability, and COVID-19
- Where do we go NOW!? – President’s Message
- An Interview With Ashley Cleveland, MCMP
- The Importance of Sense of Place in our Communities
- An Answer to the Suburban Growth Dilemma
- Homeless to Housed Fall 2019
- A New Initiative: Children’s Walks
- Awards Spotlight: Water Quality Planning Toolkit for Utah Communities