Toronto Papers
Get Walking Keep Walking: a community based programme to encourage everyday walking in high deprivation areas in England
Simon Waters, Head of Promoting Walking at the Ramblers Association, UK
Summary: Get Walking Keep Walking is a project developed by the Ramblers’ Association (RA) to increase regular independent walking among previously inactive and insufficiently active people in areas of multiple deprivation. The project works in and with communities to encourage and support local walking, both for short transport trips and additional exercise trips. It is especially targeted at people with the greatest health gaps, including black and minority ethnic populations and people with mental health problems. Get Walking Keep Walking builds on the Ramblers long history of effective work through volunteers. The programme is sufficiently flexible to meet the needs of a wide variety of audiences. Community outreach workers and health professionals have proven to be strong supporters. Get Walking Keep Walking fits well with existing led walks programmes, as both benefit from referral to the other. The project has developed partnerships with local government, and local health provision authorities. Key features include: • Taking walking to people, not people on walks • Urban neighbourhood walking- fitting walking into everyday activities • Providing a “product” that fits the needs of other community service providers • An overall model that is easily modified to suit different audiences: parents of young children, the very old, those with mental health issues, BME communities • A short 12-week programme that does not create dependency • A facilitated “welcome to walking” session managed by a professional outreach worker, which introduces information about the ease and benefits of walking and establishes a commitment to independent walking right from the start • Four short led “taster” walks to show how easy walking is and to explore the community • High use of trained volunteers –including “walking ambassadors” to manage aspects of the programme • Opportunities for beneficiaries to take walk leader training, and continue running a weekly walk if they so wish • Creation and mapping of community routes by volunteers- (see separate presentation by Des de Moor) In pilots, Get Walking has been well received by a wide variety of audiences, and has had excellent recruitment and adherence levels. The “hard to reach” have been responsive to the walking message as few were aware of recommended exercise levels, or the effectiveness of walking in reaching them. Implementation of the programme requires strong local partnerships, effective volunteer recruitment and management, and central support. Having demonstrated the projects efficacy in pilots, a full-scale pilot is testing effectiveness. ... More
How to achieve an improved mobility for elderly pedestrians
Dirk Boenke & Jürgen Gerlach, University of Wuppertal
Summary: Walking still plays the most important role in the life of senior citizens, due to limitations and disabilities it will even more in high age. But studies show: Elderly people tend to use the car, if the environment is not properly designed for their needs as pedestrians. As accident rates indicate, the needs of elderly pedestrians are yet not considered appropriately. They are particularly endangered due to decreasing physical powers of resistance at accidents and falls. In Germany in the year 2005 nearly half of all killed pedestrians were at least 65 years old! Because of the demographic development in Germany the situation in the cities will even get worse, if no measures are carried out. A research project at the University of Wuppertal showed out typical conflict situations with severe injuries for elderly pedestrians. An extensive accident analysis was combined with interviews and focus rounds. The survey was completed by checking the German guidelines and norms, in how far they regard the special requirements of elderly pedestrians. Supplementary a questionnaire of traffic planners in selected German cities was performed. The survey showed that infrastructure does not fit the needs of elderly pedestrians yet in a most satisfactory way. From the results, requirements of elderly pedestrians concerning construction of adequate infrastructure could be derived. Overall, traffic for elderly pedestrians has to get safer and more attractive. Concrete action could be e. g. to construct more refuges which are equipped in a safeguarding manner. Road maintenance plays also an important role to prevent accidents. In general, planning processes should consider less capacity of facilities but more needs of weak participants. From the research project a new plan for traffic process was derived. It is called “Local Mobility Protection Plan”. With the help of this plan, which describes the steps to be followed during the process, every local authority could be able to determine problematic areas with a shortcoming analysis. From this, choice and priority of suitable measures for improvement on the objective and subjective safety of elderly people can be elaborated. An important role plays the planning and construction of barrier-free routes, considering the main routes of elderly people. The use of the planning process should lead to an integrated work to support walking for elderly people and care for a long lasting mobility in order to gain a sustainable urban development and a compliant urban mobility. ... More
If You Let Them, They Will Walk: (The Story of the SARS Relief/Rolling Stones Concert in Toronto – July, 2003)
Roberto Stopnicki, P. Eng., Director, Traffic Management Centre, City of Toronto
Summary: In the early spring of 2003, the City of Toronto was suddenly faced with a serious outbreak of the SARS virus. The impact of this outbreak on the local economy, after it was controlled in early summer of 2003 was significant, particularly for the City’s tourism and hospitality industry. With very short notice, a major rock concert in the City was announced for July 30, 2003, to show the world that Toronto had freed itself of the virus and that it was happy to welcome the many tourists that visit the City every year. The highlight of the concert, was a performance by the Rolling Stones rock band. Staff of many agencies responsible for traffic flow and safety on Toronto’s roads and expressways, were given six weeks to prepare a viable plan to ensure that the more than 500,000 anticipated attendees would be able to safely access and egress the event. Amongst the many challenges to be faced by event planners, was the scheduling of the event on a weekday, Wednesday July 30, 2003. The concert was to take place in Downsview Park, a facility located in the middle of the City of Toronto and surrounded by the busiest freeway in North America, Highway 401, Yorkdale Mall with 150,000 square meters (1.6 million square feet) of floor space and numerous residential, industrial and commercial land uses that would remain open and operational. The planners of the transportation system for the event had learned a year before, during the Papal visit for World Youth Days at the end of July 2002, that such a transportation plan would be successful, only if it relied principally on attendees arriving and leaving the event on foot or rapid transit and walking as far as feasible from the event, before they reached their vehicles. A plan to that effect was developed and resulted in a successful and un-eventful (from a transportation perspective) concert. ... More
Influencing Travel Behaviour in a Winter City
Beth McKechnie, Green Commuting Initiatives, Resource Conservation Manitoba
Summary: Like many urban Canadians, Winnipeg residents view winter as a time to settle indoors and quickly scuttle from house to car to workplace or store. Children are prohibited by school division policy from playing outside during recess when the temperatures dip below -25 C. In Winnipeg winters, outdoor activity becomes seen by many as something to avoid. How does this make sense given Canada’s northern climate? Why would we choose to deny, resist and fight against a season that contributes to our character and landscape, and as Canadians, gives us so much to talk about? This presentation and corresponding paper looks at seasonal variations in physical activity and active commuting levels, physical and attitudinal barriers to using active modes of transport in winter, and expanding the modes of active winter commuting to include ice skating and cross country skiing, along with the winter approach to urban planning and building design outlined by Dr. Norman Pressman. Finally, consideration is given to the Community-Based Travel Marketing project underway in Winnipeg and the opportunity it presents to assess the role of individualized marketing in supporting households that have self-identified an interest in changing their travel behaviour, including active commuting in winter. ... More
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