Background
Transportation policies, guidance, standards, and decision-making processes rarely account for the climate change, public health, and equity impacts of transportation. When Streetsmart began as a nonprofit organization, our mission was to help decision-makers account for these factors. We created the Streetsmart Playbook, an online reference tool that synthesizes research to highlight the proven transportation-related strategies for healthy, equitable, and climate-friendly communities.
To help communities achieve these goals, Streetsmart became Streetsmart Planning LLC in 2022. We keep the the Streetsmart Playbook available on this site and continue to update it with implementation guidance.
To help communities achieve these goals, Streetsmart became Streetsmart Planning LLC in 2022. We keep the the Streetsmart Playbook available on this site and continue to update it with implementation guidance.
The Research
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The Streetsmart Playbook rests primarily on four sets of research reviews. The site is not intended to be a comprehensive review of the literature regarding transportation, climate change, public health, and equity, although additional citations beyond the primary reviews are provided.
Research related to physical activity, walking, and bicycling draws from the Community Guide and County Health Rankings & Roadmaps. These research synthesis efforts involve an extensive review process. For example, this American Journal of Preventive Medicine article written by the Community Preventive Services Task Force explains the Community Guide systematic review methodology.
Research related to vehicle miles traveled and greenhouse gas emissions draws from Research on the Impacts of Transportation and Land Use Related Policies, commissioned by the California Air Resources Board in response to California Senate Bill 375. The Streetsmart Playbook also draws from Mark Stevens' meta-regression analysis as described in the journal article, Does Compact Development Make People Drive Less? (paywall) and interpretations of the study expressed in reaction articles in the same issue. |
Photo: Unsplash/ Ed Robertson
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Research synthesis efforts review all the literature on the topic while considering selection bias, measurement bias, and other threats to validity that might be introduced through each individual study's research designs. Systematic reviews offer strong evidence about the relationship between an intervention (e.g., bicycle infrastructure) and an outcome (e.g., bicycling). However, systematic review findings may not be generalizable to real-life applications, in part because the context of the strategy is not accounted for. With the absence of "practice-based evidence" it is especially critical to have community engagement for getting planning and design interventions right. Streetsmart will increasingly draw from context-based research approaches to offer better contextual guidance. Examples include realist evaluation--which asks "What works, for whom, in what respects, to what extent, and in what contexts?"--case study research, and Community Based Participatory Research projects.