KidsGoGreen and PedibusSmart go to Switzerland
The KidsGoGreen and PedibusSmart technology solutions developed by Trento-based Fondazione Bruno Kessler to promote sustainable, active and safe mobility of children will be tested in two elementary schools in Canton of Ticino, Switzerland starting from the next school year, Covid-19 health emergency permitting.
Already tested in various schools in Trentino and in a number of towns in Emilia Romagna, the platforms have shown an impact on mobility that has exceeded all expectations, leading to a 55% reduction in the home-school travel by car.
The initiative is the perfect example of the FBK strategy to support the PA with a research model that starts at the local level, is built and co-designed together with the PA to respond to real needs and then becomes scalable and replicable at national and international level.
In particular, the Kids Go Green platform (https://kidsgogreen.eu/) allows teachers to design interdisciplinary educational projects to discover cities, towns and environments.
On the other hand, PedibusSmart (https://pedibussmart.fbk.eu/) allows for the automated recording of children joining the pedibus in the morning thanks to a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacon device that children keep in their backpacks and an app installed on the smartphone of the volunteer who walks them to school.
The S2HOES – Safe and Sustainable HOmE School mobility project launched in Switzerland with funding from the AXA Foundation for Prevention is coordinated by FBK’s Annapaola Marconi and Elisabetta Farella and combines the potential of these two solutions.