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<br />or, alternatively, they can be torn apart when auto traffic noise, <br />pollution and threats dominate the street environment. <br />Additionally, Figure 2 shows how residents' sense of their home <br />territories shrinks as traffic grows heavier and faster. When heavy <br />traffic forces residents to retreat into the backs of their homes and <br />away from the street, the areas in front of homes - that could <br />be vibrant places for children to play and neighbors to socialize <br />- are left empty of street-life. As a result, few "watchful eyes" are <br />left to enhance neighborhood safety. <br />Following on the legacy of my father's work, I initiated a <br />study to explore how traffic affects children's perceptions of <br />their environment, focusing specifically on the community <br />environment between home and school. Early in the study, I <br />worked with two colleagues, Vijay Jayachandran and Marcus <br />Diederich, to conduct focused interviews and mapping exercises <br />with nine- and ten-year-olds, having them draw free-form maps <br />of their neighborhood between home and school. <br />One conclusion was immediately obvious: being part of <br />traffic profoundly affects children's perceptions. Many children <br />primarily experience the world outside their homes from the <br />backseat of a car. National surveys show that, on average, children <br />spend more than an hour a day in a car, not including time in <br />the school bus. Figure 3 shows a child's windshield view of his <br />world. As part of our study, this lO-year-old child, who was <br />driven everywhere, was asked to draw a map of his neighborhood <br /> <br /> <br />L .--- <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />).----:\_.______[:=x-~~] <br /> <br />c...,,^u.rU <br /> <br />t-------.._.___... '__.__ ~ <br /> <br />~ \~'(.~!;,. <br /> <br />- \~.---.l <br />-.~.v,ls n <br /> <br />"~~~ r <br />: I <br />,j ~ <br />~-_. <br /> <br />f~ <br />~ri<<.~ <br /> <br />\ <br />I <br /> <br /> <br />"-<>"I?e- <br /> <br />-Ji <br />- ) <br /> <br />'- -b~ I. F" <br /> <br />Child from Gregory Garden Neighborhood <br /> <br />~-- <br /> <br />N <br /> <br />A <br /> <br />Figure 3: A map <br />drawn by a 10-year- <br />old child who was <br />driven everywhere. <br />The result is a series <br />of disconnected paths <br />that lead separately <br />from home to school, <br />friends, or the mall, <br />with little detail or <br />connection with the <br />community. <br /> <br />6 NCBW Forum Article 3-7-05- March 2005 <br />