Preventive Medicine 50 (2010) S95–S96

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Preventive Medicine

j ourna l homepage: www.e lsev ie r.com/ locate /ypmed

Commentary

Making kid-friendly cities: Lessons from two cities

Gordon Price a,⁎, Rodrigo Reis b

a Simon Fraser University, City Program, 515 West Hastings Street, Room 2300, Vancouver, B.C., Canadab Catholic University of Parana and Federal University of Parana, Curitiba, Brazil

At the Active Living Research conference in San Diego on February19, 2009, a plenary sessionwas devoted to some of the best examples ofcity planning, parks, and transportation infrastructure that can promotechildren's physical activity in cities. The goal was to use ideas andpractices from other countries to stimulate creative thinking about howAmerican cities can be made more kid-friendly for activity. In thiscommentary, speakers from North and South America present lessonsfrom their respective cities—Vancouver in Canada and Curitiba in Brazil.

Vancouver, Canada

Gordon Price is Director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University,and was also a city councillor at the time Vancouver was planning anddeveloping massive new neighbourhoods in its central area. He publishesan online newsletter about city planning:http://www.pricetags.ca/.

In North America by the 1970s, the consequences of auto-dependent urban design had become apparent: a combination oflow-density and separated land uses reinforced by road and parkingstandards that made the car the first if not only option for almostevery trip. Walking and cycling became aberrations.

But not in all cities. In an historic turning point, the City ofVancouver refused to build freeways, residential streetswould be trafficcalmed, and the transportation priorities of the city would be, first, theneeds of pedestrians, then cyclists, then transit, then, and lastly, the car.

By the late 1980s, Vancouver, having largely built out itsresidentially zoned capacity, looked to inner-city industrial brown-fields to accommodate growth. Based on its initial success on theSouth Shore of False Creek and the development of Granville Island,the City established a policy framework for the master-plannedprivate-sector “megaprojects” that would characterize developmentin the 1990s and 2000s. The land uses would be mixed, the densitieshigher, and the transportation active.

The strategy would come to be known as “Living First.” Informally,it could be summarized this way: “If it works for kids, it works foreverybody.” In other words, new neighbourhoods must be livable forfamilies with children.

That generality was refined into specifics when Council approvedGuidelines for High-Density Housing for Families with Children(City of Vancouver, 1992) in 1992, developed in consultation withthe child-care community and parents living in multiple-familyaccommodation.

⁎ Corresponding author.E-mail address: price@sfu.ca (G. Price).

0091-7435/$ – see front matter © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2009.10.013

These are some of the key statements:

- Twenty family units in a single project is the suggested minimum.- Family units require a minimum of two bedrooms.- The family units should be grouped together in the mostappropriate parts of the building … on lower floors or … facing acommon outdoor play area.

- Every floor with family units should have an observation point tooverlook the children's play areas.

- It is essential that landscape materials stand up to wear and tearwith a mixture of hard and soft surfaces.

- The value of some covered play area for rainy days should beconsidered.

- It is desirable to provide private entries to units from the outside.- Sites for family housing should be within 0.4 km walking distanceto a playground and a public transit stop.

- Sites should be within 0.8 km walking distance of an elementaryschool and its outdoor play area, a day-care centre, an after-schoolcare facility, a community centre, and grocery shopping.

- Experience has shown that children will play everywhere; theentire site should be designed to withstand use by children.

So, with respect to children, how did it turn out?In 2007–2008 students of the School of Community and Regional

Planning at the University of British Columbia conducted a post-occupancy study of Concord Pacific Place and Yaletown, under theguidance of past-city planner Larry Beasley and social planner WendySarkissian (Wenman et al., 2008).

Most importantly, the study found that, indeed, there werechildren living in these communities, more in some cases than inadjacent suburban neighbourhoods:

- 13% of the population were under the age of 19 years.- 40% of households rented.- 50% are households for whom English was not their first languageat home.

Ironically, given the doubt that families with children would beattracted to high-density environments, the density of childrencreated new problems. The elementary and daycare centres couldnot meet the demand and this lack has emerged as an importantchallenge for raising a family.

Families rate their satisfaction with their buildings lower than doresidents without children. In particular there were concernsregarding play space in the building itself and on the buildinggrounds. As a result, parents take their children to the purpose-built

S96 G. Price, R. Reis / Preventive Medicine 50 (2010) S95–S96

play areas in nearby parks, sometimes overloading their capacity.However, residents are overwhelmingly satisfied with local parks,appreciated for their size, quantity, and wide open spaces.

Families with children also express dissatisfaction with too fewbedrooms, bathrooms, and small kitchens. They desire places at thefront doors for the removal of shoes and play clothes.

Only 15% of families indicated that mobility was a challenge toraising a family in False Creek North. Residents are less reliant on theircar than their suburban counterparts, but few are willing to relinquishtheir cars completely—90% of the sample reported owning at leastone car.

Some residents are at a crossroads of car ownership, in that theyuse their cars so little that they are considering giving them upcompletely and using the cooperatives or car rentals instead.

From personal observation and talking with parents with children,children in the megaprojects are not as different from their suburbancounterparts as some might think. They are often driven to play andschool, and are probably about as physically fit. Some who do not getsufficient play time out of their apartments enter elementary school inpoorer physical shape than their counterparts. Some parents arereluctant to let their children cycle in the city, regardless of thepresence of separated paths along the seawall.

On the other hand, they walk much more than those who live insuburbia, and it's likely that this way of moving about the builtenvironment will continue to be reinforced over time.

Curitba, Brazil

Dr. Rodrigo Reis is a professor at the Pontiff Catholic University ofParana and Federal University of Parana in Curtiba, Brazil. Dr. Reis is onthe Board of Brazilian Society for physical Activity and Consultant in theMinistry of Health and National Industrial Social Service.

Physical inactivity among youth is particularly challenging in LatinAmerica where, despite the economic growth observed in last decade,there are still major social and health inequalities.

Considering Brazil as a case, 2 out of 10 adolescents do not engagein recommended levels of physical activity, and the rate is loweramong lower socioeconomic status youth (Tassitano et al., 2007).However, countries throughout Latin America are developing andevaluating innovative approaches to physical activity focused onyouth.

For instance, a recent study reviewing community-based physicalactivity intervention studies in Latin America provided strongevidence of the effectiveness of school-based physical educationprograms (Hoehner et al., 2008). A recent study showed that use ofinfrastructure, such as parks, by young people was high, but physicalactivity practice was related to the social context, particularly theperception of safety (Reis et al., 2009). To address such barriers, LatinAmerican communities are combining the use of public spaces andthe offering of programs to attract youth and families to enjoy anactive lifestyle.

Curitiba, the seventh biggest city in Brazil, is recognized for itscreativity in facing severe problems associated with urban devel-

opment, such as traffic congestion, loss of public space, and adverseenvironmental impacts, similar to those found in other large urbanagglomerations across Latin America (Tapia Granados, 1998). TheMunicipal Sports and Leisure Secretary and the Municipal HealthSecretary coordinate and promote public physical activity programsthroughout the city, which are mostly carried out in public parksand recreation facilities, such as plazas and bicycling and walkingpaths.

Several activity programs are offered for youth throughout theyear with no cost to citizens. These activities are a combination ofsports (such as School Games and Sports Initiation Program) andrecreational experiences. The City has also built a decentralizedadministration model combining services and places. For instance,each of the nine regional governments has sports and leisure centers,located in public spaces called “Rua da Cidadania” (Citizenship Street),where several public services are provided. This combination of publicservices and physical activity opportunities in one location is anexample of how to attract families to use services while providingchildren a chance to be physically active.

Because the parks and recreation facilities are not evenlydistributed in the city, some people may not have the same access,so physical activity programs need to be delivered in a different way.In communities where structured parks and plazas are not available,“special buses” transport trained staff and recreational activities for allage groups to whatever space is available and use affordable and lowmaintenance materials.

The case of Curitiba demonstrates multiple innovative ways toaddress major barriers to youth physical activity common in LatinAmerican communities, including lack of resources and socialinequality, by using whatever public space is available, bringingprograms to all parts of the city, and using a family-oriented approach.Curitiba's approaches of linking people, places, and programs canbe adapted for promoting youth physical activity in other parts ofthe world.

Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

References

City of Vancouver, 1992. High-Density Housing for Families with Children Guidelines.[Online] City of Vancouver Land Use and Development Policies and Guidelines.Available at: http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/Guidelines/H004.pdf [Accessed 10August 2009].

Hoehner, C.M., Soares, J., Parra Perez, D., et al., 2008. Physical activity interventions inLatin America: a systematic review. Am. J. Prev. Med. 34 (3), 224–233.

Reis, R.S., Hino, A.A.F., Florindo, A.A., Rodriguez Añez, C.R., Domingues, M.R., 2009.Association between physical activity in parks and perceived environment: a studywith adolescents. J. Phys. Act. Health 6 (4), 503–509.

Tapia Granados, J.A., 1998. Reducing automobile traffic: an urgent policy for healthpromotion. Rev. Panam. Salud Publica 3 (4), 227–241.

Tassitano, R.M., Bezerra, J., Tenório, M.C.M., Colares, V., Barros, M.V.G., Hallal, P.C., 2007.Atividade física em adolescentes brasileiros: uma revisão sistemática. Rev. Bras.Cineantropom. Desempenho Hum. 9 (1), 55–60.

Wenman, C., Hofer, N., Lancaster, J., Sarkissian, W., Beasley, L., 2008. Livingin False Creek North: from the residents' perspective. [Online] The Universityof British Columbia. Available at: http://www.sfu.ca/city/PDFs/POEBrochure_FINALFORINTERNET_June17.pdf. [Accessed 29 September 2009].