Streetsmart is a non-profit research synthesis and resource clearinghouse for integrating climate change, public health, and equity concerns into transportation. This evidence-based platform helps users make the case for healthy investments and prioritize strategies that meet community goals. This beta version is focused on proven strategies that can help communities meet their goals for increasing physical activity, walking, and bicycling; reducing vehicle miles traveled and greenhouse gas emissions; and improving equity and inclusion.
Photo: pedbikeimages.org/ Toole Design
Understand the IssuesTransportation is much more than mobility. Transportation has far-reaching impacts on quality of life, health, climate change, and equity. Learn how these issues are interrelated and what strategies you can take to address them. Help stakeholders get on the same page and speak the same language.
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Photo: pedbikeimages.org/ Dan Burden
Make the CaseEquip yourself with the evidence you need to make the case for investments that better serve your community. Fact sheets, case studies, and guidebooks can help you communicate the multiple benefits of healthy, equitable, and climate-friendly strategies.
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Photo: pedbikeimages.org/ Dan Burden
Prioritize ProjectsHow do you prioritize among a long list of projects? Why not start with examining which strategies are likely to help you reach your goals for climate, health, and equity? Streetsmart offers proven strategies and technical guidance so you can implement with confidence.
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What's New?
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The planner's playbook: A community-centered approach to improving health equity ChangeLab Solutions, 2020 |
Supporting healthy urban transport and mobility in the context of COVID-19 World Health Organization, 2020 The accessibility shift: Conceptual obstacles and how to overcome (one of) them International Transport Forum, 2020 |
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: Role in police reform Transportation Equity Caucus, 2020 |
Pedestrian crossings and safety on four Anishinaabe reservations in Minnesota Minnesota Department of Transportation, 2020 A pandemic playbook for transportation agencies (pre-publication draft) Transportation Research Board, 2020 |
Why This Matters
Climate Change
In the US, the transportation sector is the largest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions, a driver of climate change. In addition to the environmental consequences of climate change, climate change will negatively impact human health. For example, more prolonged and severe heat events will increase the number of heat-related deaths and illnesses. Worsened air quality, including that from increased incidence of forest fires, will lead to more cardiovascular and respiratory disease. Children, older adults, people with disabilities, and many communities of color will be among those most impacted by climate change, illustrating the interconnected nature of environmental stewardship, health, and equity.
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Photo: Unsplash/ David Lee
Public Health
The environment in which we live has a significant impact on health. How communities are designed and built can support physical activity or promote sedentary living. Transportation either facilitates access to health-promoting destinations, such as employment, health services, and social opportunities, or presents a barrier to reaching them. Those living near busy streets face an increased risk of asthma and heart disease from the exposure to vehicular air pollution. Thousands of people are killed or injured on our streets every year, with a disproportionate number of pedestrians and people of color in those numbers.
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Photo: Pexels/ Ahshea1 Media
Equity and Inclusion
Historically, the benefits and burdens of transportation infrastructure has not been equally distributed across places and populations, with consequences that reverberate today. For example, communities of color are more likely to have had interstate highways built through them, displacing residents, severing communities, and exposing them, year after year, to air pollution generated by traffic. There are 61 million people with disabilities in the United States, many of whom have challenges with reliable and affordable transportation. Because of the barriers they face, people with disabilities are more likely to be in poorer health and have lower incomes--these challenges are compounded for people with disabilities who are also people of color.
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Photo: pedbikeimages.org/ Dan Burden