Child-inclusive road assessment for safer school journeys: multi-stakeholder practice in Cluj-Napoca

Problem

Children’s daily school journeys are a public health priority in rapidly urbanising European cities. Structural barriers — blocked pavements, no continuous cycling infrastructure, unsafe crossings — limit active travel, while children’s voices remain underused in urban mobility planning.

Description of problem

The Safe Journeys to School project (2024–2026), funded by FIA Foundation within the Child Health Initiative, implemented a multi-method, multi-stakeholder assessment across 10 pilot schools embedded in the city’s Urban Mobility Plan 2021–2030. Actions included: objective road safety assessment of 120 street segments using the Star Ratings for Schools (SR4S/iRAP) tool; 38 qualitative interviews with teachers and parents; 10 focus groups with 77 students; and 8 participatory sessions (Mosaic Approach) with 194 children aged 7–16. Findings were co-produced with school administrators, local police, civil society, and municipal authorities to generate actionable recommendations.

Results

SR4S assessment found 47% of evaluated road segments rated 1–1.9 stars (highest risk), with only 13% achieving 4–5 stars. Qualitative findings confirmed car dominance due to infrastructure gaps and parental safety concerns, not preference. Children identified concrete, feasible solutions: car-free school zones, continuous cycling lanes, additional school buses, and 30 km/h speed limits. Results directly informed the city’s Road Traffic Operation Committee, with guidelines and recommendations for safe school journeys.

Lessons

Combining objective infrastructure tools (SR4S) with participatory child-centred methods provided structured, creative outputs that reflect how children imagine and map their journeys to school, and including all different stakeholders. This approach produced richer, policy-ready evidence than either approach alone and portrayed children as reliable co-researchers of actionable urban safety data.

Key messages

• 47% of school-zone road segments scored highest risk. SR4S data and children’s lived experience produce evidence more persuasive to policymakers than either approach alone.

• Children’s spatial perceptions of road safety barriers and active mobility near schools can produce evidence for urban public health interventions.