Slow down! Smíchov elementary school will increase safety with the help of tactical urbanism

School streets, which provide greater comfort and safety when staying in front of school, are a growing trend. How it can look in practice with the help of non-building modifications will soon be tested at ZŠ Grafická in Prague 5. The association Pěšky měst has developed a conceptual proposal for the modification of its immediate surroundings for the school. They are cheap, easy to implement and effective. Pupils also participated in the project.

The educational section of AutoMat visited Elementary School Graficka several times last year and talked to the children about the unfortunate traffic situation in its vicinity as part of the educational program and walks. We played trams and parking with the first-graders, we repeated how to cross where there is no crossing, and we recommended the school management to cooperate with Pěšky městem. We are even more pleased with the news that even before the end of the school year, they handed over the finished architectural and artistic design of traffic calming measures to the city district, i.e. to the founder of the school.

A rainy traffic walk with AutoMat in 2023

The current town hall was not satisfied with the situation around the school and decided to actively address it around February. They now have instructions on how to make the journey to and from school more pleasant for children, and nothing should stand in the way of its implementation. The motto of this year’s neighborhood festivities Zažít město jinak is Slow down. With it, the AutoMat association invites city dwellers to slow down their pace of life a little, but also aims to make the topics of school streets, tactical urbanism and “thirty” zones more visible.

Motives from children will come to the asphalt

And it is precisely with tactical urbanism, i.e. with measures that do not require a building permit and therefore can be implemented quickly and cheaply, that the proposal works. It was created in collaboration between Květoslav Syrový, Zuzana Vraná and Jakub Karlík and works with the so-called asphalt art method, in which children also participated.

Proposal of Pěšky městem

“At the corners of intersections, where it expands the area designated for pedestrians, it shortens the distance necessary to cross the intersection and at the same time draws attention to the movement of pedestrians. Asphalt art in combination with road markings and bollards prevents unwanted parking in corners. The widening of corners together with the addition of deceleration cushions significantly increases the safety of pedestrians. Furthermore, the newly created vestibule of the school, which is complemented by minimalist furniture, is highlighted in color,” writes Pěšky městem in an article on its website.

Slow down and play. Important!

We recently wrote about the fact that, in addition to higher security, so-called school streets in all their forms also provide space for children’s games and socialization. “Children’s brains are formed through play. They learn how to socialize, how to make decisions, how to deal with toxic stress, which helps them in school. The lack of play creates a generation of children who cannot deal with the world,” emphasizes architect Simon Battisti, who is involved in their implementation not only in Tirana, Albania. This year, for the 19th time, the neighborhood festival Experience the city differently will show its visitors what it is like when the primary purpose of the street’s existence ceases to be car traffic. Children from Primary School Grafická will soon experience this on a daily basis.

opening photo: Che, Wikimedia Commons

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