Posted on October 7, 2003

Education

Forty years ago, roughly half of all American schoolchildren walked to school — a destination that was most likely located near the middle of town. By contrast, only about 10 percent of trips to school today are made on foot or by bicycle, with most students relying on school buses or their parents for a ride. Good Schools — Good Neighborhoods (28 pages, PDF), a report from the Center for Urban and Regional Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, outlines trends in school construction in North Carolina and examines the factors that affect school design and location, including the population shift to the suburbs and land-use regulations. Sponsored by the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, the report recommends, among other things, renovating old schools that were once anchors of the community and making sure new schools are accessible to pedestrians.