The Goal is Free Range Kids w/ Prof Sara FL Kirk

In this episode, I connect with Professor Sara FL Kirk, with Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, for an in-depth discussion about her research centered on environments that promote healthy, active living, what prompted her to become a safer streets activist, hint: it's the story as we heard from Tom Flood with the Urban Truth Collective, and some of her favorite initiatives she's been involved with there in Halifax.

Helpful Links (note that some may include affiliate links to help me support the channel):
👉 Urban Truth Collective episode
👉 Grant Ennis Dark PR episode
👉 Tim Gill and Alice Ferguson Free Range Childhood episode
👉 Lenore Skenazy Free Range Kids - Let Grow episode
👉 Bruce Appleyard episode
👉 Peter Norton playlist
👉 Ian Walker and Marco Te Brömmelstroet motonormativity episode
👉 Carter Lavin’s You Have to Fight episode
👉 Academia and Research playlist
👉 Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do and What It Says About Us by Tom Vanderbilt via my Bookshop or from Amazon 
👉 Tristin Cleveland episode
👉 Kidical Mass video from Austin
👉 My recent Bike Streets episode
👉 Bike Streets website
👉 Wes Marshall's recent Livestream
👉 Uplift Partnership website
👉 Navahine Settlement episode
👉 Growing Up Boulder Mara Mintzer episode

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1. Become an Active Towns Member on YouTube for exclusive member-only content and Livestreams
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4. Make a donation to my non-profit, Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc., to help support my pro bono work with cities

Credits:
- Video and audio production by John Simmerman
- Music via Epidemic Sound

Resources used during the production of this video:
- My recording platform is Ecamm Live
- Editing software Adobe Creative Cloud Suite
- Equipment: Contact me for a complete list

For more information about the Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit our links below:
- Active Towns Website
- Active Towns on Bluesky
- Weekly Update e-Newsletter

Background:
Hi Everyone! My name is John Simmerman, and I’m a health promotion and public health professional with over 35 years of experience. Over the years, my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization in how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.

Since 2010,  I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be while striving to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."

The Active Towns Channel features my original video content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.

Thanks once again for tuning in! I hope you find this content helpful and insightful.

Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2026