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Efficient transport systems and high travel speeds have generated unprecedented levels of accessibility considering the larger travel catchment areas. On the flip side, such conditions lessened the need for proximity which in turn led to the distancing of human activities and car dependency. This is particularly concerning when considering young children, who find less opportunities for independent mobility and accessibility, fuelling physical and cultural car-dependency from a very young age. In this presentation we develop a cross-section and longitudinal analysis of the levels of walking accessibility to primary schools in the northern region of Portugal (expanding over an area of more than 21.000 km2). We look at both urban dispersion and primary school concentration of the last decades. Using statistical data and contour accessibility measures, we explore how walking accessibility to primary schools evolved in …