From School to City: An Analysis of 600 School Squares Toward Designing Urban Places for and with Active Mobility

This chapter discusses how active mobility and urban context can influence each other. Positively, active mobility can trigger urban regeneration processes and vice versa: urban surroundings can enhance practices of active mobility. But, on the other hand, urban context can also negatively influence active mobility. Such complex relation was studied in the Italian context through an extensive analysis of more than 600 public spaces close to schools, the so-called school squares, located in the provinces of Milan, Turin, and Varese. School squares are significant cases since they assume a pedagogical and symbolic role for the children. The results of the analysis show how, in the main part of a sample of school squares, urban context is not designed to trigger a positive relation with active mobility. The chapter reflects on the cases in order to evaluate the urgency in designing and planning the city, especially the urban areas frequented by children, for and with active mobility. In this way, it will be possible to establish a positive and fruitful relationship between urban context and active mobility and vice versa.