Child-friendly urban landscapes: exploring the role of green space and management practice

Children´s access to high-quality outdoor environments is important for their health and development, but is currently decreasing. Urban landscape management through the development and maintenance of parks, playgrounds and woodlands, influences how children´s perspectives are realized in their neighbourhoods and has potential for children´s participation. Previous studies have shown that professionals working with public space need to increasingly understand and adapt to children´s perspectives. Management work has a potential to meet children´s perspectives on a direct and child-friendly level, but studies on the role of management for child-friendly cities and sustainability have been lacking.

The aim of this project is to improve management through studies of how children and managers perceive urban green spaces as environments for children. Methods used include 1. a telephone survey of managers about their adaptation to users and particularly children and 2. a multiple case study of built environments with different green space provision in Sweden and Denmark, mainly using walking interviews with children and managers.