Urban Design
Toktam Roshandel; Bakhtiar Bahrami; Mehdi Saidi; Goran Erfani
Abstract
Highlights: Parents' consent emerges as a highly influential factor.Children require a secure and enjoyable pedestrian route from home to school.Environmental affordances usable during both day and night play a pivotal role. Introduction:Children's physical activity and mobility are pivotal ...
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Highlights: Parents' consent emerges as a highly influential factor.Children require a secure and enjoyable pedestrian route from home to school.Environmental affordances usable during both day and night play a pivotal role. Introduction:Children's physical activity and mobility are pivotal for their overall health. This study, conducted in Mashhad City, Iran, explores children's perspectives on environmental characteristics that impact physical mobility and activity.Theoretical Framework:Utilizing a theoretical framework comprising 28 measures, this research aims to unveil the environmental features within neighborhoods contributing to the improvement of children's physical mobility and activity.Methodology:To accomplish this, the present study collected the perspectives of 450 children aged 9 to 13 (43.8% girls and 56.2% boys) regarding a specific set of these attributes within Mashhad City, Iran. Utilizing exploratory factor analysis, a model was constructed based on the children's responses to the survey measures.Results and Discussion:This model identifies seven factors and 24 measures influencing the mobility and physical activity of children in their neighborhoods: Parents' Approval: Encompasses measures associated with "parents' permission and concern" and reflects "children's desire for independence and agency." Results suggest that parental concern about the autonomous presence of their children in neighborhood spaces significantly inhibits the children's mobility and independent activities. Walking Path: Associated with measures conveying the concepts of "optimal and joyful mobility on paths," this factor emphasizes features like adequate width and appropriate flooring. The potential for 'playing along the route from home to school' is crucial for children's mobility. According to children, this pathway serves not only as a route for the essential journey to school but also should provide opportunities for social and optional activities, including play and enjoyment. Social Security: Linked to measures reflecting 'the sense of security regarding strangers and bullies' in neighborhoods. An interesting result is the association of "creating a pleasant atmosphere such as colored sidewalks" with social security. Children believe that the use of specific colors on sidewalks not only provides a fun atmosphere but also establishes spaces for local socialization, consequently reducing the threat of bullying and outsiders. Environmental Affordance: Associated with activities reflecting children’s physical abilities, such as climbing trees and running in open spaces without obstacles. The results indicate that children test these capabilities through movement and exploration of their surroundings. Additionally, the inclusion of "night lighting" as a measure in this factor suggests a preference among children for exploratory play during the night. Legibility: Aligned with Lynch's theory of legibility, this factor involves measures related to way-finding by architectural elements. The findings indicate that children use 'buildings' and 'stores on the ground floor' as landmarks for navigation in their neighborhoods. Diverse Environment for Exploration: Associated with measures representing attractive routes, various play equipment, and nature connectedness. Children's positive assessment of the existence of winding paths in the neighborhood indicates that engaging in exploratory activities along these paths can increase their mobility in their community. Furthermore, integrating a variety of natural elements and play equipment in their neighborhood can enhance children's movement and exploration, making the experience deeper and more enjoyable. Mobility Safety: The final factor is associated with measures indicating safe mobility in neighborhoods. In addition to the fear of a car accident, children's desire for age/gender-appropriate play equipment highlights their concern for their physical safety. The results indicate that inappropriate play equipment and car traffic have the least impact on children's mobility in their neighborhoods. Conclusion:Interventions targeting these factors can significantly enhance children's mobility experiences, promoting not only physical activity but also social interaction and a deeper connection with their surroundings. The recurring theme of children's desire for playful activities emphasizes a fundamental need for quality movement and physical activities.
Urban Architecture
Masoumeh Mirsafa; zeinab Talebi; Mansoureh Kianersi
Abstract
Highlights
- Children’s Independent Mobility (CIM) is affected by their interpersonal characteristics, the social environment, and the quality of the built environment.
- Based on the Grounded Theory, childhood obesity, regulations and controlling process, and social and urban situation ...
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Highlights
- Children’s Independent Mobility (CIM) is affected by their interpersonal characteristics, the social environment, and the quality of the built environment.
- Based on the Grounded Theory, childhood obesity, regulations and controlling process, and social and urban situation introduce casual, contextual, and intervening conditions, respectively.
- CIM can be promoted by various spatial qualities such as walkability, safety and security, playfulness, health, attractiveness, and access to nature.
- The social acceptance and awareness of the community play a role in promotion of children’s independent mobility.
- Promotion of CIM through effective planning and design guidelines results in higher degrees of mental and physical health among children.
Introduction
In the past few decades, the social conditions of cities have changed the children’s urban life and imposed a huge impact on their freedom of movement and independence in the public realm. Moreover, many parents are caught in “social traps,” and are consequently more likely to restrict their children’s independent, active movement in the public realm. While Children’s Independent Mobility (CIM) originally focused on their independent travel to and from school, the concept has further expanded to embrace their independent, active mobility and play around their neighborhoods without adult supervision or accompaniment. Thus, this paper attempts to study the shared spaces in residential complexes, providing a child’s first independent outdoor experience, and identify the qualities that can contribute to and improve (CIM) in such areas.
Theoretical Framework
As an essential quality of a child-friendly environment, CIM is an indicator of children’s acceptance in the society, which provides them with the opportunity to be present in the public, play in the neighborhood without adult supervision or accompaniment, and interact with others and develop their social circles. It provides a wider variety of opportunities for socialization and hangouts among children and contributes to their sense of identity. Therefore, CIM is considered as an important quality that aids children’s physical, social, and cognitive development. The main factors that influence CIM include interpersonal characteristics, a sense of community and social environment, and the quality of the built environment.
With regard to children’s interpersonal characteristics, one has to take into consideration the importance of age and sex in their mobility and play patterns in the public realm. Children aged 8 to 12 years are more likely to receive permission from their parents to go out and play than younger children. There are also clear differences in the ways that boys and girls use and experience urban neighborhoods and spaces; generally, boys enjoy greater freedom of mobility and are more visible in neighborhoods and playgrounds.
The social environment of a neighborhood is influenced by the level of social cohesion, the existence of shared values and norms, a family’s mental image of their place of residence, their concerns about the presence of strangers, the likelihood of crime and delinquency, and child abuse in the area. In turn, it exhibits impacts on the level of independence that children might experience in their use of public spaces in the neighborhood.
The Physical characteristics affect CIM on two scales: the neighborhood where the residential complex is located and its shared spaces. At the larger scale of the neighborhood, the compact city form, which provides children with short distances between various destinations, increases their chances of active, independent mobility. Furthermore, such areas improve children’s sense of security in public spaces as they enjoy higher population density. In the shared spaces of residential complexes, the characteristics that are closely associated with CIM include density, pedestrian-friendliness, cleanliness, access to green spaces, and proximity to nature. One has to take into consideration that other environmental characteristics, including the climate conditions, air quality, and temperature affect the time for which children would like to stay and play in public areas.
Methodology
The research employed the grounded theory methodology to construct a theory from the collected data. Due to the necessity of obtaining insights from various groups of stakeholders, the data were collected through 107 semi-structured interviews to reach saturation. This included 53 children, 38 parents and caregivers, and 16 professionals. Given the importance of the physical qualities of the environment, direct field observations were also made in 15 selected residential complexes in Tehran. The qualitative data analysis was carried out through the MAXQDA software, where 74 concepts, 25 principal codes, and 9 categories were extracted. The codes and categories were integrated and optimized, and their relationship with the core of the research was specified.
Results and Discussions
The results of the data analysis demonstrate that the causal and intervening conditions of children’s independent mobility include the inadequacy of the legal framework and the inefficiency in implementation of plans and their monitoring and evaluation systems. Moreover, CIM is affected by the qualities of the social environment where children live, and the social acceptance and awareness of the community can thus play a role in promotion of CIM strategies. The results further reveal that strategies used to improve the social atmosphere within the residential complex in favor of more independent, freer presence of children include improvement of the physical qualities of the environment, involving attempts made to keep children safe and secure from all possible risks and threats, to plan for playful spaces, to facilitate access to nature and green spaces, and to keep the spaces clean and healthy. As a consequence, the children will enjoy higher degrees of mental and physical health.
Conclusion
Social traps and lack of responsive quality control and evaluation systems for child-friendly residential complexes emphasize the necessity to develop a qualitative framework to promote opportunities for children’s independent mobility and unsupervised play in shared spaces in residential complexes, while meeting parents’ expectations from the quality of the built environment to permit CIM within these spaces.
