I. Research Question(s) / Purpose of the article:

1. Walking routes to school in new urban and suburban neighborhoods: An environmental walkability analysis of blocks and routes I. Research Question(s) / Purpose of the article: We assessed environmental and perceptual correlates of walking and walkability for fifth graders from three communities attending two schools: A new urban/LEED-ND pilot community, mixed, and standard suburban community. 2. Hypothesis: We expect the standard suburban communities will offer fewer micro level walkability features. We hypothesize that new urban blocks and routes are more walkable than suburban ones and offer more consistent traffic conditions across the route to school. We also hypothesize that more audited walkability relates to children and their parents perceiving fewer barriers to walking to school and to more children reporting walking to school. 3. Variables: A. Independent Variable: A new urban/LEED-ND pilot community, mixed, and standard suburban community. B. Dependent Variable: 3 socio-demographic variables, 6 another criteria (Traffic Safety, accessibility, Pleasurability, Crime Safety, Density of housing, diverse destination) IV. Methodology: Questionnaire + Interview A. Who participated? Compare 3 groups of students attending to the school (Walkable, mixed, less walkable) B. What did they do? They walked in 1.5 mile from their home to school in the shortest street route. (The routes are chosen by parents) V. Major Findings: In contrast, the design of the new urban community resulted in a more pleasant routing for children going to school. Although the new urban community blocks had higher overall residential densities than the other two communities, that density was internal to the community, not relegated to a highly trafficked exterior arterial and not sited to receive the major pedestrian flow to school. Instead, the walking routes in the new urban community were notable for their relatively high scores on diversity, pleasurability, crime safety and traffic safety. The new urban community has a more walkable design than the mixed and suburban communities.