School streets are car-free areas outside schools. Roads are closed to vehicles or they have severely restricted access, normally just for a short period at the start and end of the school day. Some school streets are permanently car-free. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and motivated by the need to create additional street space, school streets, which are relatively low-cost and can be trialled relatively quickly with basic materials, were expanded rapidly. 2020 saw exponential growth, with the total number increasing to over 1000 school streets around the world, with over half of these in the UK (the majority in London), but also large numbers in Belgium, France and Italy.
A school street in Flanders, Belgium
A European wide campaign, the Clean Cities Campaign, promotes the introduction of school streets and has developed a toolkit for local administrations to help with their introduction. Cities such as Paris have introduced school streets as part of a wider package of measures across the whole city, such as standard 30km/h speed limits, new cycling routes, and more priority for pedestrians. In Brussels, the regional government promotes the school street model and also provides subsidies to local authorities to introduce them.
As the Climate Strike movement shows, young people are often at the heart of protests about emissions and are frequently involved in the development of school streets. For example, pupils addressed Council meetings on school streets and the climate emergency in Haringey (London), or supported the roll-out of the scheme, such as speaking to people at the road closure barriers in Zwolle (Netherlands), or taking part in participatory workshops in Paris.
More Information
Clean Cities Campaign (2022), School Streets to shape child-friendly cities.
More information on the Brussels Region’s promotion of the “School Street DIY”, with information, guidance and examples of implementing a school street, is available in French here and in Dutch here.
More information on the Brussels Region’s funding scheme for road safety projects around schools (school streets) in 2023 is available in Dutch here and in French here.