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Mixed-use developments support walking, biking, other physical activities
YOUNGSTOWN
Creating pedestrian-friendly environments that support walking, bicycling and other physical activity is a better way to get kids to change their sedentary habits, says a public-health consultant.
Mark Fenton is the keynote speaker for the fifth annual Innovations Conference from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday at the D.D. and Velma Davis Education and Visitor Center in Mill Creek MetroParks, 123 McKinley Ave.
The conference includes table discussions about opportunities and options in the Mahoning Valley, and three concurrent workshops, including one led by Fenton on “Implementing Healthy Community Designs.
To register, go online at www.rjweanfdn.org or call 330-743-5555. The cost is $15 per person, and $10 for each additional registrant from the same organization.
Fenton’s discussion topic — “Whatever Happened to Free Range Children?” — will focus on how communities can return to the days when children and adults walked to the store or the playground and up and down their streets.
He said mixed-use developments, which he said are pedestrian-friendly environments, can be achieved by changing subdivision rules on what can be constructed and “it doesn’t cost a thing.”
In a telephone interview, Fenton said single-use zoning ordinances are a holdover from the late 1800s and early 1900s when factories were dangerous and dirty and were belching coal smoke.
Fenton also is an associate professor at Tufts University in Boston.
The conference, sponsored by the William Swanston Charitable Fund, aims to encourage new ideas for organizations that serve children throughout the Valley.