Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Ph. D. in Transportation and Traffic Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology
2
Ph. D. Candidate in Urban Planning, Islamic Art University of Tabriz
3
Professor, School of Economics and Agriculture Development, University of Tehran
Abstract
Becoming aware of the way of making a journey to the school is of high importance for enjoying the health advantages of walking, reducing the possibility of being infected by the obesity among the students, increasing the students’ level of energy, reducing the body mass index, increasing the possibility of living longer and healthier in comparison to the inactive individuals as well as reducing the harms of the overcrowding and air pollution due to using vehicles. This paper aims at analyzing the factors affecting walking of the girl students of guidance schools in the District 7, Tehran and presenting some solutions to encourage walking among the students of this district. To achieve this goal in the study, following the review of literature, 20 variables affecting the students’ walking were found. Using factor analysis, 8 variables were introduced as the explaining factors for students’ walking in District 7, Tehran: the conditions of the routes for walking, economic status of the households, expenses of the journeys, cultural programs for walking, the role of the route of parents to go to work with that of students to school, parents presence during walking of students, characteristics of the surrounding areas, and the possibility of group journey for walking to school. This study revealed that the conditions of the routes for walking played the most important role in explaining the factors affecting the students’ walking, with the power to explain 14.40 percent of variance; followed by the economic status of the household with the explanation power for 8.575 percent of variance, and the expenses of the journeys with the explanation power for 8.462 percent of variance are the major factors affecting the students’ walking. In the next phase of the study, to determine the degree of the impact of these variables on walking or using vehicles in the journey to the school, logistic regression analysis was carried out. The results of logistic regression analysis showed that the economic status of the household, expenses of the journeys, the role of the route of parents to go to work with that of students to school in students’ walking decrease the possibility of choosing the activity of walking. Accordingly, the following solutions can be recommended for this issue: in order to increase the walking activity among students in households with better economic situation, the culture-based strategies through providing a virtual social network among students’ parents, schools and health department can be recommended. In order to decrease the importance of expenses of the journey, integrated consideration of residential and educational land uses through determination of suitable distance threshold for walking of students in urban plans and in schools buffer design may be effective. To decrease the importance of the factor of the role of parents in walking of students, considering traffic strategies and time management for changing the travel policy of parents and students will be effective. Generally speaking, the program of group walking to school with adults as accompaniment is an effective policy for this purpose.
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