Independent mobility: a necessity for children, a resource for the city
Independent mobility is one of the main objectives of the «The city of children» project, that is, allowing children to experience the city with the greatest possible freedom: leaving home without being accompanied, meeting friends and playing in the open spaces. public of the city.
Why is it so important to give the child the ability to move independently again?
First of all for the effects on their physical and psychological health: an active lifestyle helps prevent overweight and obesity, contributes to a healthy development of the musculoskeletal system and the cardiovascular system and reduces the probability of developing some serious diseases (diabetes type II, colon cancer, heart attack and osteoporosis). Furthermore, the possibility of experiencing experiences of autonomy in public space affects more intense neighborhood relationships, a stronger sense of community and the development of evolutionary skills.
The main reason that prevents children from leaving home is the dangerousness of the streets. The fear of traffic and car accidents is indicated as the main cause that hinders the granting of autonomy, but what has had the greatest impact on the collapse of autonomous mobility are social fears and the interpretation of the parental role.
Today the parent considers it his duty to always accompany his children, supervise and protect them, even at the cost of an expensive family organization, this exposes parents to dangerous educational errors and children to risky developmental deficiencies; Not having the opportunity to live real experiences of autonomy, children do not acquire the relational rules and cognitive tools that allow them to manage relationships with their peers and deal with real situations.
However, denying autonomy to children is not only a detriment to their education, it is also a social detriment: the presence of children on the streets makes them busier, increases communal control, intensifies exchanges, relationships and the social fabric and therefore it increases safety.
Here are 10 reasons to encourage children's independent movement:
- Children who travel on foot are generally physically healthier, because they exercise;
- Children who walk to school unaccompanied show better ability to focus in class;
- Children who walk around unaccompanied develop better knowledge of their environment, improved orientation abilities and mind mapping;
- Children who walk around unaccompanied develop a higher degree of social skills and reduce the risk of loneliness and isolation;
- Children who walk around unaccompanied acquire greater problem solving skills, to “get by” in difficult or uncertain situations;
- Children who walk around unaccompanied develop a greater sense of responsibility and self-confidence, and enjoy the trust of people around them;
- Children who can spend their free time playing independently with their friends develop a greater ability to organize themselves, to be creative, and to think and undertake projects;
- The less children are accompanied by car the less traffic there is on the roads in general, resulting in less road accidents, in particular around schools, and less atmospheric pollution;
- Streets with kids walking about become safer and more pleasant to walk down. With more pedestrians a shared sense of security and responsibility grows, whereas the risk of bad encounters decreases;
- Parents and carers normally spend much of their day accompanying/picking up/waiting for children doing their activities. All this time could be employed more usefully, for instance having quality time together.
In Practice
The International Laboratory “The City of Children" proposes sone actions to change the city:
→ "We go to school alone" (italian version)
→ "Pedestrians First!" (italian version)
Investigation into how children go to school alone
To measure the children's level of travel autonomy, before the start of the "We go to school alone" experience, our research group developed a questionnaire that investigates the level of autonomous mobility both during the home - school and extracurricular courses.
The questionnaire to be administered at the beginning of the experience is called the Pre Test Questionnaire and is aimed at children and their respective parents. At the end of the first year of experimentation and at the end of each of the subsequent years, a Post Test Questionnaire is administered (again for children and parents), which will measure the progress of travel autonomy and the effectiveness of the proposed experience.
The questionnaires, available in italian, can be downloaded and used by the cities that launch the "We go to school alone" experience.
Furthermore, instructions for the correct administration and completion of the questionnaires are available.
It is possible to download the questionnaires and instructions at the following link: https://www.lacittadeibambini.org/attivita-di-ricerca/
Learn more
→
→ Childhood obesity data - OMS
→ Manual "We go to school alone (Italian version)"
→ Manual Pedestrians first! (Italian version)"
→ Atlas of Childhood Obesity (2019)
→ Rapporto Mobilitaria 2018 elaborato da Kyoto Club e CNR IIA
→ Children’s independent mobility: a comparative study in England and Germany (1971‐2010)
→ Children’s Independent Mobility: an international comparison and recommendations for action
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