oh European Climate Pact wants to re-create areas for children to play in the street, a call that will make National Association of Portuguese Municipalities on Sunday, in an initiative in which hundreds of families go out for a bike ride.
“It makes no sense that today Portuguese children live most of the time at home and cannot play in the street like their parents and grandparents did when they were their age,” said the mobility ambassador in Portugal of the European Climate Pact. . António Gonçalves Pereira.
António Gonçalves Pereira considered “imperative that the mayors of Portugal create areas in cities, and in medium and small towns, where this can happen” and argued that “playing in the street is a right“It is a condition of childhood citizenship that local democratic power must guarantee.”
The proposal to create children’s play areas in the street will be presented on Sunday morning, during the initiative “Kidical Mass” (critical mass of children), in which hundreds of families are expected to ride bicycles, on a route that begins at Quinta da Alfarrobeira, in Benfica, and ends at Quinta das Conchas, in Lumiar, in Lisbon.
According to a press release, “what will be proposed to city councils throughout the country is that, in a first phase, create zones next to existing schools where it is safe for children to cross the street without the company of adults and play nearby.”
“What we demand, first of all, are safe school environments, free of air pollution, noise and motorized traffic,” said António Gonçalves Pereira, one of the organizers of the “Kidical Mass”, who also maintained that it is “ “It is essential to guarantee safe routes for children.” schools, walking and cycling, child-friendly traffic laws with a limit of 30 kilometers/hour in towns and on most crowded streets.”
On the other hand, “wide and continuous bike lanes with safe intersections on the main roads” are also necessary, as well as “more public space dedicated to active mobility and being and playing,” added the Pact’s mobility ambassador in Portugal. European for Climate.
“Mayors must consider “child population as citizens with the right to freedom, independence and security”highlighted the coordinator of Ecomood Portugal – Association for the Solidarity Promotion of Sustainability in Human Mobility and one of the organizers of the “Kidical Mass”.
The European Climate Pact is a central initiative of European Green Deal promoted by the European Union and aims to mobilize communities towards investments, activities and processes that are increasingly less dependent on fossil fuels, promoting the transition towards safer and healthier ways of life, and towards a sustainable economy.
oh “Kidical Mass” It is a global movement that seeks to respond and give visibility to the need and desire of families to use active modes in their daily travelsuch as bicycling, walking, skating or skateboarding.
This movement, whose motto is “Space for the next generation”, demands the improvement of cycling infrastructure and the pacification of the streets, especially in areas surrounding schools.
The “Kidical Mass” initiative takes place throughout Europe and in Portugal it has been taking place since April 27 in more than 30 places, “with thousands of children and parents demonstrating for safer streets.”
“Kidical Mass Portugal” has been promoting, since 2022, when the project began in the country, the petition “Safe cities for all people”, addressed to the Government and parliament, in which it requests the change of the “maximum speed limit of 50 km/h to 30 km/h in urban areas, where motorized traffic interacts with pedestrians and bicycle users.”
Source: Observadora
