Abstract
Active school commuting provides a convenient opportunity to promote physical activity for children, while also reducing car dependence and its associated environmental impacts. School–home distance is a critical factor in school commuting mode choice, and longer distances have been proven to increase the likelihood of driving. In this study, we combine open-access data acquired from Baidu Map application programming interface (API) with GIS (Geographic Information System) technology to estimate the extent to which the present school–home distances can be reduced for public middle schools in Jianye District, Nanjing, China. Based on the policies for school planning and catchment allocation, we conduct a scenario analysis of school catchment reassignment whereby residences are reassigned to the nearest school. The results show that, despite the government’s ‘attending nearby school’ policy, some students in the study area are subjected to excess school–home distances, and the overall journey-to-school trips can be reduced by 20.07%, accounting for 330.8 km. This excess distance indicates the extent to which the need for vehicle travel can be potentially reduced in favor of active school commuting and a low-carbon lifestyle. Therefore, these findings provide important insights into school siting and school catchment assignment policies seeking to facilitate active school commuting, achieve educational spatial equity and reduce car dependence.
Highlights
To mitigate the pace of global warming, a consensus on carbon emission reduction has been reached all around the world
A lapse in implementation of these polices means overlong school–home distances still remains an issue in many neighborhoods, which reduces the opportunities for active school commuting
It was hypothesized that excess school–home distance, regardless of how it is measured, i.e., route distance or Euclidean distance, can cause unnecessary motor vehicle travel
Summary
To mitigate the pace of global warming, a consensus on carbon emission reduction has been reached all around the world. It has been proved that government control and low-carbon lifestyles is the key to realizing energy saving and emission reduction [2,3,4]. Compared to government control, a low-carbon lifestyle has few negative effects on economic growth, and has become an economically friendly, healthy and sustainable lifestyle that has naturally enjoyed widespread popularity [5,6]. When coming to low-carbon lifestyle, suggestions for residents usually emphasize conservation of electricity and less dependency on motor vehicles, which calls for changing auto-oriented lifestyles and encouraging daily active travel behavior (i.e., walking or cycling) [7]. Previous research has documented that the global transport sector accounts for 20% of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions [8], and by reducing motor vehicle travel, 15.1% reduction of fuel consumption can be achieved by 2030 [9]. In light of the foregoing, school commuting, which has a strong relationship with the transport sector, can be regarded as an energy-intensive activity and active school commuting, can be advocated as a low-carbon lifestyle, relevant estimations have been under-published
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
