Healthy Communities Conversation on Active Transportation: Summary

This is a summary of the conversations facilitated by the Centre for Healthy Communities on November 30, 2022. The Healthy Communities Conversation focused on ‘How do we get where we want to go? Building healthy communities through active transportation and active school travel.’

Key Highlights: 

• Active transportation facilitates accessible journeys between destinations, including the stops made along the way. Additionally, active transportation infrastructure must be intentionally planned, inclusive, and equitable.
• Budgeting can often restrict improvements that support active transportation and active school travel and lead to favouring one transportation mode over another—for example, cycling over walking. A balance must be made to encourage diversity in active transportation options and consider how people move within and between communities. 
• Something that is often overlooked in an Alberta context is the opportunity to align active transportation and active travel with tourism. For example, Alberta has a rural landscape that is a huge asset in this regard. There is an opportunity for active transportation to support both local peoples and visitors move within and between communities. Case studies may be an opportunity to explore this further. 
• It is essential to understand how neighbourhoods are different and how active transportation fits within the landscape of these neighbourhoods (for example, how rural and urban, and older and newer neighbourhoods differ).  
  • Rural and urban communities have different infrastructure, resources, and needs when it comes to active transportation and active school travel.  
  • In these contexts, it is important to engage with groups such as neighbourhood community associations, schools, and local councils to understand the community needs. 
  • Understanding the community context and engaging with people within rural and urban communities can help to develop and promote grassroots movements that encourage active transportation.
• There is an opportunity for active transportation infrastructure to be better complemented with planning, education, and policy initiatives (e.g., incentives to align with active travel, spreading awareness and educating citizens).  
• Active transportation creates opportunities for social connection and promotes a sense of community.  It is essential to promote these benefits alongside other known benefits.
• Within Alberta, seasonality is a barrier to sustainable active transportation and active school travel due to a lack of snow clearing and sidewalk maintenance, the ability to obtain snow gear, and general safety.

Resources (mentioned in the conversation):

• Research study led by Dr. Kate Storey through the CIHR Healthy Cities Research Initiative: Active School Travel ABC’s: Just getting from ‘A’ to ‘B’ misses what you could ‘C’ 
• Ever Active Schools: Active School Travel Projects
• A report summarizing findings from School Street Programs piloted in four Ontario cities in partnership with Green Communities Canada and 880 Cities: Ontario School Streets Pilot Summary Report
• An example of micro-mobility to increase active travel in children: Micro Scooters. 
• A book that showcases how active travel work can come from good planning and promoting suitable environments for advocacy work on active travel infrastructure: What Silicon Valley Got Wrong about Future Transport.
• An article recently published by the PLACE Research Lab (University of Alberta) that includes recommendations about how to support active transportation policy within an Alberta context: Policy influencer support for active transportation policy in two Canadian provinces: Implications for advocacy