The Woman who stops traffic

I think I have got a bit "blogged down" recently with the conference. It was a lovely idea to post something on each session, but it meant I didn't want to write anything else until I had got that out of the way.

I will write about my workshop session once I have prepared some of the materials I want to link to from the post.

In the meantime I wanted to talk about "the woman who stops traffic" a Channel 4 programme last night (1 of 3) which has been billed in some places as "Jamie's School Dinners" for sustainable transport.

Disclosure: Just so you know, one of my colleagues is involved in next weeks episode (in Boston, Lincs) looking at encouraging walking. It will also feature Strider (the primary campaign mascot). I wasn't involved in the programme at all (I was on jury service), so hopefully I can be objective!

I really enjoyed this programme. It showed the problem without being (too) sensationalist. The problem in Marlow (as in many towns) is that a quarter of all journeys made were under 2 miles. This number of cars put huge pressure on the town centre, the high street and the historic suspension bridge over the Thames.

I loved the quote from the traffic engineer near the beginning: (everyone thinks) "Traffic is other people". It reminded me of Satre: "Hell is other people"!

All the "great and the good" of the town were hugely sceptical of Kris - one man actually walked out of a a meeting because he thought the meeting was going to be about "transportation" rather than "reducing car use" (go figure!). They were preparing to invest millions of pounds into new roads and car parks, yet couldn't find £3000 to run a "go car free for one day a week" campaign (starting with a single day of action).

The most shocking section for me was when Kris visited a school for the first time. I have never been a school travel planner, so the first parent meeting (200 kids at the school, Kris puts out 40 chairs "the rest of the parents can stand", only 12 turn up!) was a huge insight into quite what a difficult job being a school travel planner is. The attitude of the parents was exactly what I expected ("What if it rains","I would if everyone else did", "it's too dangerous", "we need a proper crossing"), but I was shocked how strongly they believed their positions - they were not open to change at all.

There then followed a classic media "against all odds" story, with Kris trying to whip up support and being rebuffed at every turn. It was very well told, and you truly didn't know what would happen at the end of it.

Although I would have liked to see the story of the school mums a bit more -the most vociferous critic became the most ardent supporter by the end, and her epiphany was glossed over - I really felt firedup at the end of their "change gear" day. There were fantastic "before and after" shots of empty streets, only 6 kids went to school by car and the traffic in the town had halved on their "change gear" day.

What I would love to know - and if you know please comment - is whether the "don't drive one day a week" message got through, and traffic in Marlow has stayed lower.

The programme was originally concieved as a one off, but the strength of the first programme led to two more being created, and a supporting website too.

For me, the crucial difference between this and Jamie's school dinners is that Jamie needed Government (local and central) action. While there does need to be far more money put into promoting sustainable transport, and also improved infrastructure, there also needs to be action by ordinary people like you and me choosing to use our cars less. Despite sceptics comments, these campaigns are not "anti-car", they are just proposing "responsible car use" - thinking before you make a journey.

The show is available for the next 30 days through 4OD - go watch it! (www.channel4.com/4od/index.html).

Walk to School Conference: Clare Mulholland

Every Journey Matters,
Clare Mulholland, Transport for London
The final presentation of the day (before the afternoon workshops) was from the conference sponsors, Transport for London.

Clare spoke about the "Every Journey Matters" resource, a book and website looking at travel to school across the globe. I was pleased to get Clare to speak as I knew she had been working with the charity PeaceChild to create it, but hadn't actually seen the book yet!

They have done a great job of getting stories of travelling to school from all over the globe - I was particularly impressed by the children who have to cross a river by a pulley system that looks as if it belongs on an SAS assault course. The story about the kids who have to paddle to the next island to get to school, and were sent home for coming to school wet, shows that we actually have it very easy in the UK.

The resource was launched in October for International Walk to School Month, but the lesson plans, book and website can be used at any time of the year. Although there is a bit of a London focus, it is suitable for use across the UK, and indeed the globe!

We had hoped to distribute copies of the book at the conference. Unfortunately they didn't arrive, so we will be sending them out with the DVD we are preparing. In the meantime, check out the website: www.everyjourneymatters.co.uk

Walk to School Conference: Royal College of Art

Video Presentation: too cool for school,
Guillaume Drapier, Dae Kyung Ahn, Nicholas Reddall, Royal College of Art

Back in October we issued a call for papers - asking for submissions on the theme of "a new tool for walk to school". This was the paper we chose. These three are industrial design students at the Royal College of Art, and this was their first project at college - a guerilla project during International Walk to School month.

What they did was use a very simple (and cheap!) idea to turn the walk to school into something very special. They bought a roll of silvery tape, then stuck it over the pavement and walls, making simple shapes which children would then follow on their way to school. It reminded me of being small and walking between the cracks in the pavement! The video they showed of their adventure was hugely inspiring, and was a fantastic way to finish the presentation sessions.

Here are some stills from the video:

We had lots of people asking if they could have a copy of the video. We are currently exploring this possibility - we need to make sure that we have covered all the legal angles (permissions etc). Lets see what we can do!

Walk to School Conference: Hodden Abdullahi & Blossom Young

A Teen View of Sustainable Travel,
Hodden Abdullahi and Blossom Young, Tower Hamlets

Hodden is the deputy youth mayor of Tower Hamlets. This post is voted fro annually by the young people of Tower Hamlets, to represent them and work on their behalf.

The elections were in full swing at the time of the conference, so it was not clear until about a week before the event who we would have speaking from Tower Hamlets. Add to this the fact that Hodden's train was late, and I am sure you can understand what an intimidating experience it must have been for Hodden to stand in front of the conference and talk about her experiences of travelling to school.

I felt I had to apologise to Hodden after the event, as we probably hadn't given her a clear brief, or the support she needed to get her points across. I felt she was hugely brave in very adverse circumstances.

When Hodden had spoken, Blossom Young (pictured above - a youth worker who runs the young mayor scheme) had a couple of points to add. Most interestingly, Tower Hamlets are looking at spreading their sixth form facilities right across the borough (rather than have lots of colleges offering the same courses). This would obviously invovle more travellign than is currently the case, so they have been asking teens what their opinion of travelling in the borough is. The major point of concern is personal safety as they travel through different areas.

While this is piece of work is for a wider report, Blossom hopes that it will eventually make it into the public domain, so I will post it here when that happens.

Walk to School Conference: Andrew Fielding and Colleagues

New Tools from the Walk to School Campaign,
Andrew Fielding, Walk to School Campaign, Living Streets
Tracey McBride, Walk to School Scotland Campaigner
Sam Potter, Walk to School (Secondary Engagement)

So then we came to my session. I started by thanking everyone for the huge effort they put into Walk to School in 2007 - it was our most successful year to date, but so much of this is down to the people on the ground doing the promotion locally. Thank you all again!

I then told the story of when I was "spotted" walking in Victoria, London, and heard two children muttering "he's wearing a Walk to School T-shirt!" - great moment! Oh and I mentioned Tony Blair and Arnie being fans...

The key thrust of my presentation was about our new Walk to School strategy, and the tools available to local authorities and schools. It is all about our keeping our profile higher during the year - currently Walk to School week and Walk to School month are the biggies, and then people forget about us during the rest of the year (particularly in local authorities that don't do WoW).

When I started there was just me - and I was stretched in what I could do - now we have four members of staff working on the Walk to School campaign and a whole suite of ideas for useful tools. Already Strider (the primary campaign mascot) is available for visiting schools, and we are adding new ideas far more often than we used to when it was just me!

Tracey, our Walk to School Coordinator working specifically in Scotland, also introduced herself and the work she is doing north of the border. Where we get new ideas or create new resources these will be shared across the rest of the campaign.

Finally, Sam Potter and I talked about the new Secondary School campaign. This is funded by the BIG Lottery fund, but is so new that there is not a great deal we can announce yet. Rest assured, as our ideas crystalize, and the campaigns develop, we will be announcing our plans through this blog.

Walk to School Conference: Alex Wood

How to engage with teenagers,
Alex Wood, People and Planet

One of the themes of the second session of the day was communicating with teenagers. People and Planet is a student led group in Universities and Sixth Forms which campaigns on ending world poverty, defending human rights, and protecting the environment.

Alex is an intern at People and Planet and spends a lot of time visiting schools and colleges to deliver workshops and support their campaigns.

Much of Alex's presentation was on how P&P engages with the groups it works with. They have a very student led and consensual way of doing things (the delegate sat next to me suggested that maybe more councils should work this way!). In particular they see teachers as facilitators rather than as leaders.

I was also rather taken by their active agreement idea - rather than agree by applauding, they wave their hands in the air for agreement, and wave them towards the ground to disagree. That way everyone's opinion can be heard (it sounds rather like the thumbs up/thumbs down in gladiators to me!).

People and Planet have two important things which I want to bring to the secondary school campaign. They have extensive experience of youth led campaigning, and they have a network of school activist groups already out there and interested in campaigning!

Over the next few months I will be working with Alex to help them create transport related campaign briefings, and perhaps also to share the names of their 6th form groups with the local school travel advisors.

Walk to School Conference: Phillip Mulligan

Traffic Noise, Noise Action Week and the Walk to School
Phillip Mulligan, Environmental Protection UK

The link between walking to school and noise is perhaps not the most obvious one, so I wanted Phillip to speak and help our delegates make the links for this year's Walk to School week.

For Walk to School week we will be working closely with our colleagues at Environmental Protection UK, as it is also Noise Action Week, and we are promoting the links between noise and walking.

After a brief introduction to Environmental Protection UK (formerly NSCA) and Noise Action Week, Phillip went into the details of the noise agenda in the UK at the moment.

Noise pollution is increasing, and affecting the quality of life of more people than ever before. There is now EU legislation to tackle noise and, in particular, by July there are 20 or so conurbations across the UK that are expected to have action plans for tackling transport noise.

Phillip had some good points about noise on our streets - and particularly how the noise in schools and cities is higher than the the WHO recommendations. Perhaps surprisingly, his figures showed that walking or cycling by the road was one of the quietest modes of transport - on the noise within a car, and well behind the noise of motorbikes, trains and the underground.

He also made some interesting points about the health impacts of noise - and particularly that children exposed to lots of noise can feel helpless to control their environment. I had read this piece of research, and it also suggested that they give up on difficult tasks more easily - so they become "used" and "more accepting" of feeling helpless.

His session left me really looking forward to Walk to School week, and our "Sound Detectives" theme. I am sure that my new colleague Louise will do a great job of making children more aware of their aural environment.

Walk to School Conference: Emma Sheridan

The Future of School Travel
Emma Sheridan, ModeShift

I invited Emma to speak at the conference as she is someone who I greatly admire professionally, and she is an inspirational speaker to listen to.
She is also hugely knowledgeable and influential in school travel as the chair of ModeShift (a forum for school travel professionals), Regional STA for London and she also sits on the Walk to School steering group (amongst many other hats).

Emma has been involved in the Walk to School campaign for a long time - she is one of the few people to have attended every walk to school conference - so was in a great postion to give us her thoughts on where we have come from as a sector, and more importantly where we are going.

Emma started with the doom and gloom. We all know that 2010 (when the "travelling to school initiative" comes to an end) is looming, and we could all be moping around waiting for our funding to be cut. Her point was, there have always been "nay sayers" and doom merchants, but the success of school travel has been enormous, fast and effective. Now is not the time to sit back and relax, but to look for the next opportunity and keep making ourselves indispensable.

In particular she talked about the communities that are fighting to keep their local schools open. They are now using school travel plans as part of their arsenal of weapons - and telling council leaders they have a choice: have children walking to their local school, or driving to a school miles away (and blocking up the roads).

Emma's vision is for school travel plans, and sustainable school travel, to be part of the mainstream community: "just something we do" rather than something special. Sustainable school travel is now part of so many other different agendas - eco-schools, sustainable schools, healthy schools etc. It is up to us to make sure that the people delivering these agendas locally can't do without us.

At the end of her presentation, Emma showed a beautiful sunset, and pulled out the corny line: "the futures bright, the futures orange" (maybe she was refering to our orange friend Strider?). While I can't condone the corniness, she is right - the future is bright, and it is what we make it!

Walk to School Conference: Chris Holmes

Marketing Active Travel - the lessons that can be learnt from the National Obesity Social Marketing Campaign.
Chris Holmes, National Social Marketing Centre

Chris's was a great presentation to open the event. He really got everyone thinking about marketing behaviour change, and what it is that we are trying to do with the Walk to School campaign. His background is in food marketing, but he is now working on marketing healthy eating, and physical activity to families.

Key to his approach is getting insight into the people we are trying to influence. In particular, asking them may not be the best approach. Imagine asking someone how they travel to school. There are three possible answers for each person:

• What they think you want to hear (the "right" behaviour)
• What they actually think they do (their perceived behaviour)
• What they actually do (their actual behaviour).

These three could be very different!

Chris and his colleagues have done a lot of research for the Department for Health looking at the behaviour of almost 3000 families, to look for the similarities and differences. This included researchers actually living with families for 72 hours to find out what people actually do (not what they think they do!). They then segmented families by their beliefs, actions and opinions, rather than by demographic information (age, sex etc). These six segments are being finalised, along with tips as to the most important drivers for their behaviour, and I will share the final results on this blog when I have them.

The important messages, for us as campaigners, were:

• Parents predominantly want "happy" children. They equate "healthy" with being "not ill", rather than being "unfit".
• "Healthy" is seen as a negative word by some - suggesting unhappy (what kid wants to eat "healthy" food?) and (for some) middle class.
• No one likes being told what to do. Parents will, in some cases, rebel against "the man, telling us what to do". Chris illustrated this point with the parents passing burgers through the gate when Jamie Oliver introduced healthy school dinners. Someone in the audience mentioned that, since climate change and green issues have moved up the political agenda, she has found it harder to get parents to join her walking bus - again for the same reason.

He suggested the hooks we should look at are:

• Happy Kids - rather than "healthy kids"
• Socialising - children walking and talking with their friends, and with their parents.
• Magic moments - lots of parents in their research mentioned "magic moments" as part of their own memories of physical activity (walking to school with their parents, playing football with their parents).

I have tried to summarise a very in-depth and hugely interesting presentation in not very many words! If you were at the conference I would be interested to hear your comments on what Chris had to say. Also, if you have any further questions for him, I will collect them up and we could perhaps ask them to him as a group.

Walk to School Conference: What did you think?

If you were at the Walk to School conference, and didn't return your feedback form, you can now return it online using the wonders of Survey Monkey. Just click on the title above.

Thanks for all your feedback

Isn't it a beautiful day.

What a beautiful day! I walked into work today feeling great - yesterday's Walk to School conference was very successful, and we have Louise starting on Monday to promote the primary school campaign. I can now really start to think about the secondary school campaign, and making it happen.

There were lots of useful things that came out of the conference yesterday. I need to think it all through, and there will be lots of blog entries coming out of it. I wanted to write a quick post, however, to greet any newcomers to the blog who found out about it at the conference.

Welcome!

Another Way to Play in Public

I just posted that last post, and thought of another "Public Playing" example, which I think is relevant. It is Geocaching.

This involves hiding metal boxes across the country (well, the world!) and then posting the GPS coordinates for them on the web. The boxes have a record card (so you can sign that you have visited) and some "treasure" in them. You can take the treasure so long as you leave another piece of treasure in return.

I did my first cache at Christmas, and have really got into it since. I think the attraction is that there are all these secrets across the country that not everyone knows about.

Add to that the treasure hunt aspect and they are onto a winner! Most Geocaches seem to be in the countryside, but I wonder if there is a way we can bring the concept into urban areas...

The Plain Janes and public art

I read "The Plain Janes" on the train to work this morning. I was very impressed, although some of the incidental characters were a bit weak, and the ending leaves a big gaping hole for a sequel...(which I understand is already in production)


There is a lot in it about spontaneous public art - which I am really keen on. It chimed with me as well because there is a lot on Banksy, and similar artists, in the press at the moment (see the current Time Out London)

I wanted to list a couple of my favourites, with comments where appropriate.

• Origami birds in Vauxhall tunnel - near where I work
• Zebra Crossing Road Sign - near my parents house in Dorset. I might (hhhmmmppph) know who did this one (it wasn't me though!).
• Super Mario "Power up Boxes" in Ohio - though the police thought these were bombs and over reacted. (read the link for more).
• Zombie Walks: "What do we want? Brains! When do we want them? Brains!". See also the Toronto Zombie Walk photos on Flickr

I see lots of parallels between spontaneous public art and spontaneous public gatherings (aka Flash Mobs). Both are really just people wanting to express themselves in public, and make someone smile.

It is all the more sad when authority freaks out about it (as in the Mario example, or in the Plain Janes book).

The whole point of this post I guess is that a lot of adults have lost the ability to play (particularly unstructured play), and this saddens me. Play is an important learnign tool, but it is underused in the modern world.
I appreciate we live in a dangerous world, but we also only live once - so we should enjoy it!

Oh - and anyone fancy a Zombie Walk to School? Lets face it, kids in cars are zombies first thing in the morning anyway!