Resource Library

This paper reviews trends in cycling levels, safety, and policies in Canada and the USA over the past two decades.

This study examined relationships between greenness exposure and free-living physical activity behavior of children in smart growth and conventionally designed communities.

Most studies of active travel to school (ATS) have been conducted in urban or suburban areas and focused on young children. Little is known about ATS among rural adolescents.

The Irvine Minnesota Inventory (IMI) was designed to measure environmental features that may be associated with physical activity and particularly walking. 

The purpose of this study was to identify correlates of pedometer-based cut-points among elementary school-aged children.

This webinar addresses common issues that schools face, presents information on common solutions and highlights communities that have creatively faced this issue and as a result have more students bicycling to school daily.

This document is a short informational document, demonstrating the benefits of joint use gardens and also discusses the benefits of joint use partnerships.

This video serves as a training tool for communities to establish joint use agreements brought to you by California Prjoect Lean, The California Department of Public Health and the California School Board Association.

This article examines the role smart growth can play in achieving planning objectives, including energy conservation and emission reductions. It summarizes existing literature on land use impacts on travel activity, energy consumption and pollution emissions. It examines claims that smart growth policies are ineffective and harmful.

Automobile exhaust pose health risks and dependency on car commuting also reduces physical fitness opportunities.

Studies have reported high exposure to air pollutants at school, but only a handful of studies have analysed children’s exposure at school.

Vehicular emissions in close proximity to schools can have detrimental health effects on children. The Safe Routes to School program claims to improve air quality through implementation due to reduced volume of traffic generated to schools.

This study is the first bi-national investigation characterizing traffic air pollutants at four schools in El Paso, USA and Cd. Juarez, Mexico. 

KEY TAKEAWAY:

• Comprehensive physical activity programs in school settings can affect physical activity, health, and academic performance.

African American (AA) and low SES populations report poor health behaviors and outcomes. This study aimed to increase understanding of barriers to participating in healthful behaviors and programs in AA residents of public housing.

The objective of the present study was to assess the longitudinal association between cycling to school and weight status in two cities where cycling to school is common – Kristiansand (Norway) and Rotterdam (The Netherlands).

The impact of neighborhood walkability (based on street connectivity and traffic exposure) within 2 km of public primary schools on children regularly walking to school was examined. 

This study employed a quasi-experimental design of five Oklahoma schools with a Walking School Bus during school year 2009-2010. The study measured pre- and post-BMI in 1102 active commuters and controls ages five to twelve. A parent questionnaire evaluated dose response, confounders, and contributors or barriers to a child’s active commute.

Increasing active transportation to and from school may reduce childhood obesity rates in Hawaii. A community partnership was formed to address this issue in Hawaii’s Opportunity for Active Living Advancement (HO‘ÄLA), a quasi-experimental study of active transportation in Hawaii County.

• This paper reports results of a 2009 survey of California school governance leaders on the barriers and opportunities to providing school-based physical activity and strategies to promote adoption of evidence-based policies.