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59
held in a park on USC campus to recruit participants for a 30 minutes sit down
interview in a classroom during the picnic event. Although many people signed up
for an interview, bringing them to the interview room in the middle of festivity
turned out somewhat problematic. Eight volunteers, some with their children, joined
a structured focus group interview with nine open ended questions. The entire
interview was conducted in Spanish by a graduate student assistant and later
transcribed in English. Additional efforts were made four months later to reach the
Kid Watch volunteers with a slight adjustment in method. After a brief presentation
about the study, a survey questionnaire with open ended questions structured for the
focus group interview was distributed to the volunteers during their training sessions.
The questionnaire was prepared both in English and Spanish (see Appendix C). They
were asked to return the completed questionnaire by the end of the session. A total of
122 questionnaires were returned.
Built Environment measure
Built environment characteristics were measured by a variety of techniques,
including analysis of geographic information system database, hard-copy maps,
aerial photographs, and data collected from site visits. Appendix D summarizes the
characteristics of the built environment measures. The study school communities
were first divided into 0.25 x 0.25 mile grid cell and urban form measures were
collected from the cells that contained the school travel routes of the child
participants. In total, 43 grid cells were measured on four broad themes suggested to
influence walking –land use density and diversity, street pattern, pedestrian
Object Description
| Title | Walkability as 'freedom': the ecology of school journey in inner city Los Angeles neighborhoods |
| Author | Uhm, Jung A |
| Author email | uhm@usc.edu; j_uhm@hotmail.com |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | planning |
| School | School of Policy, Planning, and Development |
| Date defended/completed | 2008-06-05 |
| Date submitted | 2008 |
| Restricted until | Unrestricted |
| Date published | 2008-10-17 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Banerjee, Tridib |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Irazabal, Clara Stoner, Madeleine |
| Abstract | Over the past two decades, rising concerns over childhood obesity and its health effects have brought the issue of "walkability" to the forefront in creating a child friendly environment. Particularly, the idea of promoting children walking to and from school has gained widespread support among policy makers, public health officials, civic organizations, and planners as a way to increase physical activity among children to prevent obesity. Recent policies and programs however are based on an assumption about the direct influence of the built environment on school travel mode, of which parents' values and perceptions are considered prominent in determining environmental attributes related to children walking to school.; This research proposes a conceptual framework in understanding the relationship between the environment and children's travel by adding a crucial link generally missing in current walkability research - children. By proposing the notion of walkability as freedom, this study attempts to draw attentions to children's choices and real opportunities and factors that either facilitate or prohibit children in or from actualizing what they value (walking to school as one of many). With this goal, this research explored the elements of a walkable environment through the eyes of ethnic minority children attending five elementary schools in inner city Los Angeles.; Through the triangulation of capability approach, child-centered participatory methods, and ecological perspectives, the findings demonstrate children's capacity not only to observe and understand the environment, but also to evaluate and reflect on making their neighborhood environment safer and walkable on their own terms.; This research suggests a shift in policy focus from the provision and improvement of environmental resources to the enhancement of individual freedom by increasing children's participatory capability. The results of this study advance the discussion on the relationship between active school travel and the environment by bringing children into the foreground within the spheres of ecological transaction. |
| Keyword | capability; children; inner-city neighborhood; perception; school travel; walkability |
| Geographic subject | educational facilities: Foshay Learning Center; educational facilities: Norwood Street Elementary School; educational facilities: St. Agnes Parish School; educational facilities: Vermont Avenue Elementary School; educational facilities: Lenicia B. Weemes Elementary School |
| Geographic subject (city or populated place) | Los Angeles |
| Geographic subject (state) | California |
| Coverage date | circa 2008 |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m1671 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | Uhm, Jung A |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Filename | etd-Uhm-2224 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume29/etd-Uhm-2224.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 69 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 59 held in a park on USC campus to recruit participants for a 30 minutes sit down interview in a classroom during the picnic event. Although many people signed up for an interview, bringing them to the interview room in the middle of festivity turned out somewhat problematic. Eight volunteers, some with their children, joined a structured focus group interview with nine open ended questions. The entire interview was conducted in Spanish by a graduate student assistant and later transcribed in English. Additional efforts were made four months later to reach the Kid Watch volunteers with a slight adjustment in method. After a brief presentation about the study, a survey questionnaire with open ended questions structured for the focus group interview was distributed to the volunteers during their training sessions. The questionnaire was prepared both in English and Spanish (see Appendix C). They were asked to return the completed questionnaire by the end of the session. A total of 122 questionnaires were returned. Built Environment measure Built environment characteristics were measured by a variety of techniques, including analysis of geographic information system database, hard-copy maps, aerial photographs, and data collected from site visits. Appendix D summarizes the characteristics of the built environment measures. The study school communities were first divided into 0.25 x 0.25 mile grid cell and urban form measures were collected from the cells that contained the school travel routes of the child participants. In total, 43 grid cells were measured on four broad themes suggested to influence walking –land use density and diversity, street pattern, pedestrian |
