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As was the case in the Heavy 1E neighborhood, cognitive mapping exercises like this (Figure 7) provide a way for children to express their views of the world. Such exercises are invaluable for identifying and assessing the problems and opportunities experienced by children along the routes to school (e.g., important destinations, secret paths, preferred travel routes, and existing barriers). In turn, they can prove invaluable to helping community members, public staff and policymakers identify and articulate the most cost-effective solutions to making neighborhoods and school area streets more livable for the children. Light Traffic Exposure Neighborhood �'�4 sc��c C �� F � �� ��:� _��-� �I - . w.. I'�� ,.��_: + — � �- � X iil y � �{ �� d.-. - a� � . �1 a ��' � � � � N • �_. I i • .�� N � .�.� � i� ° ` ��i ��t Heavy Traffic Exp�sr� N��t�barhaQd .� . �� � �- �� � ti . {��.-•. � Y �� � '�� + '` �• '� ,�� - � �ti,� � `•, �� 1 � �h �� . , � �Ch��l '� • :�� — � i ra F � �*7 } .+ li� �.� , . li �• '�'� ' J � : ��== � i ' F� •� i nn r- Figure 7: Cognitive �na�pil2g exercises like this help iden�ify and assess problems and opportuni- ties iliat children experience along the routes to school. This graphic comparison of the children's collective cognitive experience makes it easy to see the inverse correlation between their exposure to traffic and the quality of their neighborhood experience. In the Heavy TE neighborhood, the children frequently expressed feelings of dislike and danger and were unable to represent any detail of the surrounding environment. Newell Avenue, the main road in front of the school, is a tree-lined street and yet few of the trees were drawn; instead, red (danger, cars) and orange (dislike)dominated. Participants from the Light TE neighborhood, on the other hand, showed a much richer sense of their environment, drawing more of the streets, houses, trees, and other objects, and including fewer signs of danger, or dislike and fewer cars. The children also drew many more places iit the street where they liked to play and areas that they just simply liked: they noted playing in 43 percent more locations in their streets relative to the children in the heavy-traffic-exposure neighborhood. In sum, as exposure to auto traffic volumes and speed decreases, a child's sense of threat goes down, and his/her ability to establish a richer connection and appreciation for the community rises. A child from the light-traffic-exposure neighborhood offered the testimonial on tlle following page (Figure 8).