Child-Friendly Open Public Spaces: Towards Safety & Sociability in Residential Neighborhoods

Abstract

The rapid urbanization, high traffic density, and lack of open spaces are noticeable challenges that impose several repercussions on children within urban contexts and restrict them from living a normal childhood. Independent mobility is reduced according to the spatial deprivation of children from pedestrian experiences through urban environments. Most of the children who flourish in urban areas are trapped within indoor and virtual environments where they are deprived of contact with their communities and natural environments. Consequently, children’s opportunities for active engagement and participation in social life are decreased. Recently, child-friendly urban design has gained a lot of attention due to its remarkable advantages as it brings children’s needs and desires into practice. Creating safe and sociable child-friendly open public spaces contributes to protecting children from traffic injuries and crimes while at the same time stimulating their imagination and nurturing communication skills. This research addresses the topic of safe and sociable child-friendly open public spaces in residential neighborhoods which can significantly promote better living environments for children. Building a design framework to promote safety and sociability for children in urban contexts is the main aim that will be tackled. To achieve this aim; the research follows a theoretical approach by applying a qualitative research methodology through historical interpretation and understanding of the main design principles of safe and sociable child-friendly open public spaces. Moreover, verifying the proposed design framework will be performed by questioning the experts in the field and the public in local contexts while conducting site observation in the study area. This would be followed by an evaluative analysis of the related case-studies to demonstrate the applicability of the design framework in evaluating the level of child-friendliness in open public space. Eventually, the research introduced an adapted design framework for designing safe and sociable child-friendly open public spaces in residential neighborhoods that can be applied in local contexts.