Questions about the family friendliness of cities are bubbling up all over. One way to look at the fate of families in cities is to focus on the needs of students and schools. School-aged kids (ages 5-18) make up about 15 percent of the population in cities across the Bay Area (14.6 percent in Oakland, 17.5 percent in San Jose and 9 percent in San Francisco). About 10 to 14 percent of peak-hour transportation trips are related to getting kids to and from school. The decisions about where to live and where to send children to school are two of the most important — and intertwined — decisions parents make.
At a recent SPUR forum, UC Berkeley’s Center for Cities + Schools (CC+S) shared the risks of ignoring kids and schools when planning cities — and the lessons learned about planning for successful family-oriented communities and high-quality schools. This includes thinking about school facilities, access to quality schools, housing, student transportation and, above all, equity. CC+S framed a vision: No matter where a child grows up, he or she should have access to the necessary ingredients for a bright future, including good schools, safe streets, healthy environments, transportation to school and extra-curricular activities, places to play and a broader community to help them succeed at every stage of life.
Children in high-poverty neighborhoods are often cut off from many of the resources needed to support their success. This results in an “opportunity gap,” where many young people don’t have a fair chance at achieving their potential in school, careers and civic life. When seen through this lens, it’s clear what an important role planners play in education.
The built environment can be shaped to work better for families and students. Some things that would help:
Design transit-oriented development to attract families with children. CC+S and the Center for Transit Oriented Development created a guide for cities, illustrating why planning for transit-oriented development that serves families is important for creating truly “complete” communities and how such planning can be achieved in conjunction with school stakeholders.
Expand regional transit accessibility for young people. Access to safe, affordable and convenient transportation shapes the “geography of opportunity” for many children and youth. CC+S worked with the Mile High Connects collaborative in Denver, CO, to look at innovations across the country in increasing transit ridership among school children. The resulting report, Beyond the Yellow Bus, illustrates promising approaches.
CC+S has also designed a way to engage young people in city planning. The center’s Y-PLAN (Youth – Plan, Learn, Act, Now!) program empowers students to make change in their community and teaches them the skills and knowledge to be active citizens. The Y-PLAN model also helps cities see what strong, authentic community engagement in city planning can look like.
Over a decade, Y-PLAN has shown that including young people in planning works. As students critically analyze the places in which they live — from housing redevelopment in the Bayview to transportation planning in the city of Richmond — they learn how places are transformed, and they learn they can play a critical role in that transformation process. The data and insights that emerge from this work contribute local knowledge and fresh insights about the built environment and the act of placemaking.
CC+S has found that cities and schools can break out of their silos to work together and put the needs and interests of kids at the heart of urban planning. A real “smart city” might be one that addresses key obstacles to ensuring all children can achieve their potential.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Jeff Vincent is deputy director of the Center for Cities + Schools
Ratna Amin is SPUR's transportation policy director