Melbourne Papers
99 percent perspiration - breeding a successful community walking for health initiative
Andrew Stuck and Pam Rouquette
Summary: Established in 1996, Salisbury's Walking Forum and its Salisbury District Walking for Health project, is one of Britain's longest running and most successful walking for health initiatives, with more than 1000 led walks having been completed. A pedestrian-friendly walking network has evolved. Innovative walking initiatives have been tried and tested - this paper will highlight the key lessons to be learnt in creating a successful community walking initiative. The Forum evolved by broadening its remit and widening its membership to include volunteers and professionals in health promotion, recreation, sport, tourism and transport, and succeeded in raising the profile of walking, evidenced by the increasing popularity of the walks themselves, achieved through the work of a volunteer champion. ... More
A STEP in the right direction
Motivating Secondary School students to take action and get active | Jacky Kennedy, Programme Manager Green Communities
Summary: Green Communities | Active & Safe Routes to School promotes safety, healthy physical activity, and environmentally sustainable transportation to and from school (www.saferoutestoschool.ca). ASRTS is hosted by Green Communities Canada, a national network of non-profit organizations that deliver innovative, practical environmental solutions to Canadian households and communities. See: www.greencommunitiescanada.org. ... More
Advocacy for recreational walkers: The Federation of Victorian Walking Clubs (VicWalk)
David Reid, Barbara Guerin; Federation of Victorian Walking Clubs (VicWalk) Inc.
Summary: This paper describes how a peak body is striving to provide effective advocacy for recreational walkers. A peak body representing walkers provides a channel of communication between the land managers, planners, trail designers and health experts who wish to promote walking; and the walkers themselves. VicWalk represents 10,000 walkers across eighty community based walking clubs in Victoria. Across Australia, similar State federations of walking clubs represent some 40,000 people. Founded in 1934, VicWalk's objectives include promotion of recreational walking, development and maintenance of walking tracks, dissemination of information on safety and walking routes, promotion of public land conservation and the creation of national parks; and maintenance of a search and rescue group. VicWalk has commenced a review of its operations and future direction and has identified three strategic objectives: Enhance value to members and community, Proactive representation and wider sphere of influence, Improved management and governance of VicWalk. VicWalk realises that it must demonstrate value to its members but also must demonstrate that its members contribute value to the community. To be an effective advocacy body VicWalk must be able to demonstrate that it represents a significant constituency and must develop strategic relationships. The organisation has limited resources but must become more strategic and business like. Through its three strategic objectives, VicWalk aims to achieve effective advocacy for all recreational walkers in Victoria. The results to date are encouraging. ... More
An experiment of making an amenity map in a rural area
- case study of Hachijo, Nagahama in Japan | Ikutaroh SAITOH and Toshio KITAHARA Department of Urban Environment Systems Chiba University
Summary: In recent years, community design which aims to improve the living environment with citizen participation has become popular in Japan. Amenity is the concept that influences the quality of life. Improvement of amenity can be improvement of the living environment. Grasping information from map that points out amenity places is an opportunity to reconsider of the living environment. It will also a way to reinforce a community. This submission aims to make an amenity map and to grasp about amenity places and dis-amenity places in a region. Dis-amenity is a counter concept of amenity and means discomfort, unsatisfactory and so on. Amenity map indicates amenity places and dis-amenity places in a region. Our method of making an amenity map is (1)Walking around a local area, (2)Checking amenity and dis-amenity places, (3)Making a flag map, (4)Making an Amenity map. ... More
Beyond Big Brother: how on-site staff make it safe to walk
Anna Penning-Rowsell, CABE
Summary: Two factors, environmental quality and fear of crime or anti-social behaviour affect people's choice to walk. Staff based on site in the public realm can help tackle these problems. In order to be well used, public spaces - from streets to squares to parks - need to be designed so that people enjoy and feel comfortable using them. As well as the design of their surroundings, people are very sensitive to how well they are cared for. Scruffy, dirty places are not enjoyable places to travel through, and feel less safe. Fear of crime is another major factor limiting people's use of public space. People are discouraged from walking because of the fear of crime and threatened personal security. The presence of a 'capable guardian' makes people feel more comfortable. The British government has recognised the great importance of improving liveability. Huge resources have been put into neighbourhood warden schemes and Police Community Support Officers, both successfully providing a reassuring uniformed presence and improving the quality of the public realm. CABE Space has seen that investing in the right staff with the right skills is key to tackling many of the problems facing parks. The Parkforce campaign calls for on site staff in all significant parks in daylight hours. Parkforce has shown that there are many successful approaches to staffing parks which divide the three key roles of horticulture, security and working with the community. Park staff bring environmental and safety benefits. ... More
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