This study addresses the travel patterns of Providence, RI, teenagers and attempts to glean an understanding of the different perceptions of “personal space” as it pertains to socioeconomic status, driving a car, and using public transportation. The study explores these views in relationship to issues of safety, technology, and violence.
The primary objectives of the project are the following:
1. Document the activity patterns of Feinstein high school students. We are interested in the types of activities youth participate in, their attitudes towards their activities and their environments, who participates in these activities with them, where these activities take place, and what transport modes are used to access their activities. We are also interested in their perceptions of safe and unsafe areas in Providence and how these perceptions may influence their travel.
2. Document the impact of social behavior on travel and activity patterns of high school students while walking, driving a car, or using public transportation. The goal is to study and identify patterns of aggressive behavior and violence in relation to the mode of transportation and the public safety implications for the City of Providence. Activities will provide skills to students that will promote positive social behavior in public space (i.e. walking on street sidewalks, driving on city roads, and using public transportation).
Intermodal
Studies agree that gender, household responsibilities, and life-cycle are significant factors that influence travel behavior. Some researchers have even used the ability to physically reach activities as a social indicator for monitoring the quality of life. However, little attention has been given to how transportation and land-use patterns affect the activity choices of low-income teenagers. This study addresses the travel patterns of Providence, RI, teenagers and attempts to glean an understanding of the different perceptions of “personal space” as it pertains to socioeconomic status, driving a car, and using public transportation. The study explores this view in relationship to issues of safety, technology, and violence.
The proposed research project will use a case-study approach to accomplish its objectives. High school students (N=180) between the ages of 15-18 from Feinstein High School will participate in the project. The analysis will be descriptive and evaluative using primary data collected through the following techniques:
It is expected that the project will begin in June 2006 and end in September 2007.
June – August, 2006
$413,429.47
Student involvement will be at all levels. Two graduate students part time, one from psychology and one from computer science, will assist in collecting of data and analysis of data. Two undergraduate students from URI will help in the educational outreach tasks, support data entry, and statistically explore the data. Feinstein HS students will also participate in conducting interviews, entering activity data, and doing simple mathematical and spatial analyses in excel and ArcView 9.1.
Farhad Atash has worked on four projects funded by the URI Transportation Center. Three of the four projects are completed. Projects have addressed the redevelopment potential of the Worcester-Quonset Point Corridor, development and application of TransCAD to Aquidneck Island to test impacts of growth and land use changes on the transportation system, and the potentials and challenges of the proposed Intermodal Train Station at T.F. Green Airport in Warwick, RI. Atash and McCray are currently working on a project titled “Developing Intermodal Transportation Station Projects: A Public-Private Partnership Approach.” The one-year project began in January 2005.
Charles Collyer has been developing a program evaluation for nonviolence training, with partial support from the URITC. With support from the URITC, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, and the Kent Center, a project has been underway over the past year to develop an evaluation procedure for a type of diversion program used in Rhode Island with young traffic offenders (Collyer, 2005). Under this program, and with the cooperation of the local court, young people who receive traffic citations are given the option of taking a multi-session nonviolence training course to discharge a portion of their community service obligation. The nonviolence training is offered by Officer Linda Palazzo of the URI campus police. The nonviolence training content is drawn primarily from LaFayette & Jehnsen's (1996) curriculum, which is based on Martin Luther King Jr.'s civil rights work. Another book by Collyer & Zepp (2003) is a secondary resource for the training, and includes a chapter that concisely summarizes workshop content that is very similar to officer Palazzo's program.
The key benefit of funding this project is that the project is research orientated, as well as an educational outreach activity. Data gathered will be useful to city planners, government officials, transit authorities, and school officials across the country. The outreach component is positive on many levels. Feinstein students are the subject of the study; however, by involving them in analyzing their own travel patterns, we hope to improve communication and mathematical skills that will prepare them for education beyond high school.
Each investigator has agreed to present the findings of our study at a conference and lead in the writing of a juried journal article. Since the team is very multidisciplinary, the findings will be distributed widely and hopefully impact policy making in several areas. At the end of the project, students, parents, high school officials, policy makers, and the URI community will be invited to a policy forum that will showcase the work done by both the students and the researchers.
Very little data have been collected on the travel patterns of teens, who have free access to RIPTA buses for transport to and from school. The mayor’s office, businesses, RIPTA officials, and other agencies are currently grappling with the high numbers of teenagers utilizing public transportation during the day and the desire of the business community to encourage their employees to utilize the bus to mitigate traffic and parking shortages in downtown Providence. The reported ill behavior of teens and the volume of teens discourage use by the business sector. Our project speaks to this clash of cultures by gathering data which can inform the public of the accessibility needs and travel patterns of urban youth. Our study also seeks to change behavior by conducting nonviolence training, focusing on inter-relational social behavior and behavior while riding the bus.
Lessons learned can be useful in the development of policies, and programs supporting the activity needs of Rhode Island teenagers.
SELF-SUSTAINABILITY OF RESEARCH:
This project grows out of research and outreach projects conducted previously by McCray in Quebec City, Canada; Detroit, MI; Denver, CO, and South Africa. The work is also an extension of previous research conducted by Collyer. This project will serve as a pilot study to later include other high schools in the Providence area. The plan is to apply for larger grants through foundations like NSF to continue the work. The nonviolence training led by Leonard and Collyer will continue to be offered past the closing of this project.
All data collected from Feinstein HS will be turned over to teachers to be used to educate future students. Teachers will also have access to the tutorials developed in excel and ArcView 9.1 to develop students’ computational and analytical skills.
transportation, travel behavior, accessibility, social exclusion, environmental justice, low-income, urban travel, teen travel, ICT, GIS, safety, nonviolence training