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What brings a School Street to life?

October 23, 2023

With just a few days to go until our Autumn edition of #StreetsforKids, we want to know: Why do some cities get all the School Streets?

In 2022, the number of School Streets across Europe was estimated to be around 1,250 – the top performing cities are London (600+), Flemish areas of Belgium (170+), Barcelona (210+) and Paris (100+).

Let’s dig a bit deeper to find out why some cities get all the luck…

Belgium

The city of Ghent started experimenting with School Streets in 2012, and the idea really took off in the Flemish areas once strong regulation was introduced. Leadership and learning from local and national authorities coincided with greater awareness of the dangers of air pollution. Also crucial was the emergence of civil society groups, such as the Flemish Sustainability Network.

London

In London, School Streets went from mystery to ubiquity during the pandemic. A few councils including Hackney had already adopted them, but in early 2020, all councils were looking for quick and simple solutions to social distancing concerns. Inter-council learning coalesced with greater civil society concern about air pollution; leadership came from Transport for London who created the Stars scheme, which gives schools concrete steps they can take towards achieving one.

Barcelona

The introduction of ‘Protegim les escoles’ schemes coincided with the explosion of a national movement of parents and families known as Revuelta Escolar which started in Barcelona. The movement demanded road closures outside schools and was supported by the former mayor, Ada Colau. Now there are now at least 210 schemes where road space has been permanently redesigned to make it safer for children.

Italy – Tutti Giù per Strada

The first ever School Streets were born in Italy, in Bolzano in 1989. It then took another 30 years before the movement caught on elsewhere – the next few schemes popped up first in Parma, then in Milan. But thanks to #StreetsForKids events from November 2021 onwards, things are really changing – the mayors of Rome and Milan have recently announced plans for, respectively, 110 new School Streets and 87 ‘Piazze Aperte per ogni Scuola‘.

Paris

In Paris, the roll out of School Streets again coincided with strong leadership and a need for quick responses to the challenges of Covid. Responding to civil society pressure from groups such as La Rue est à Nous, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo was able to push through School Streets as part of a package of wider street space measures (including speed limits and more cycle lanes).

“The idea of school streets is powerfully simple, yet simultaneously revolutionary.”

FIA Foundation

Five reasons for school streets spreading quickly

The FIA Foundation produced this report which identified key trends in the successful spread of School Streets.

Positive message – If framed correctly, they are difficult to argue against – who doesn’t want to make streets safe for kids?

Campaigning action – It’s crucial to find the right political campaigning moment; this happened as the evidence of the harms of air pollution mounted following the “Dieselgate” scandal. At the same concern was growing that today’s children will bear the brunt of a destabilised climate. Tutti Giu per strada, La Rue est à Nous and Mums for Lungs were all grassroots groups who helped to shift the narrative towards an understanding of the need to protect children’s health and future.

Political will – Anne Hidalgo in Paris and Sadiq Khan in London publicly supported the need to transform the school run, meaning that city level institutions could support and amplify the work of local councils.

Quick and easy – Many School Streets were set up with experimental traffic orders, allowing councils to try things out without full consultation. In many cases they are enforced with temporary barriers and even the help of volunteer parents, which avoids the need for expensive road space redesign.

Familiar concept – All councils were able to learn from each other’s experiences.

Right time, right place – Often change is not linear – School Streets seemed an obvious solution as local authorities searched for immediate responses to the need for social distancing during the pandemic.