Social relationships, nature, and traffic: findings from a child-centred approach to measuring active school travel route perceptions

Globally rates of active school travel (AST) are in decline. New Zealand has one of the lowest rates of AST compared to other countries. To date much research investigating reasons for this decline and evaluations of interventions to increase the uptake of AST have occurred from an adult-centric perspective. This study takes a child-centred approach to elicit children's voice in understanding school travel perceptions and preferences. In total 1102 children aged 8-13 years from 19 schools across Auckland, New Zealand took part in a public participation GIS survey utilising both closed- and open-ended questions. The results indicate that regardless of active or passive travel mode, children are aware of the distance/time to school and enjoy the opportunity for social interactions. An evidence-based framework for understanding and measuring children's likes, dislikes, and key activities for their route to school is presented.