For the Kids: Mainstreaming Children's Mobility and Health in Norway's Transport Policies

This presentation examines how child-centred mobility and health considerations are institutionalised within Norwegian transport policy, planning, public health, and school-level implementation. Using Norway as a critical case, the presentation asks how children’s right to independent mobility, safe and healthy environments, participation in planning, and health and wellbeing are translated from legal and policy frameworks into practical programmes and local interventions. The presentation focuses on the policy pipeline connecting national recognition, legal responsibilities, programme instruments, community engagement, and street-level implementation. It reviews the Norwegian legal and policy landscape, including the Norwegian Constitution, the Planning and Building Act, the Education Act, the Public Health Act, Vision Zero, and the Children’s Transport Plan (Barnas transportplan). It then discusses key instruments such as Barnetråkk / Kids’ Tracks, Hjertesone / Heart Zones, and Beintøft / active school travel campaigns. The central argument is that child-centred mobility policy becomes health policy only when national ambitions are mainstreamed through institutions and directly affect children’s everyday environments. The presentation therefore distinguishes between child-focused programmes and deeper institutional mainstreaming. It highlights the importance of children’s participation, epistemic and recognitional justice, municipal implementation, and the broader health pathways of mobility, including independence, safety, confidence, social participation, and wellbeing. Presented at NECTAR 2026, Munich, 13 - 15 July in Session 1E - Health impacts of built environment and local transport interventions (Cluster 2). Funding acknowledgement The work presented is funded by two EU projects: JUST STREETS and STREET-15. The JUST STREETS (Grant agreement No 101104240) project is funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme. The STREET-15 project has been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) (UKRI3831), the Research Council of Norway (RCN 361753), Innoviris (RBC / 2025-EU-DUT-10), under the Driving Urban Transitions Partnership, which has been co-funded by the European Commission. Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.