Traffic Garden Teaches Kids Street Design

Educators in Washington, D.C. are expanding on the "Safety Town" concept to teach grade schoolers how to be safe in traffic as well as about street design and the merits of different kinds of streets.

1 minute read

August 11, 2017, 10:00 AM PDT

By Casey Brazeal @northandclark


Traffic Garden

Kings County Parks / White Center Bike Playground

Campers in the Petworth neighborhood of Washington, D.C., designed and built their own city in miniature to learn about traffic safety and street design. The 12-class program gives kids a chance work with instructors from the Bureau of Good Roads. There they engage in hands-on physical activities to learn about how city streets work and how to move around them safely.

"The Secret Traffic Garden Club engaged children by adding mystery, purpose, and creative fun to street design. But the existing built world itself is a readily-available tool that can be harnessed in such design teaching," Fionnuala Quinn writes for Greater Greater Washington.

Tuesday, August 8, 2017 in Greater Greater Washington

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

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