Design Guidelines for Outdoor Children-Friendly Play Spaces

Authors

  • Riham Nady Faragallah Department of Architectural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Pharos University in Alexandria (PUA), Alexandria, Egypt
  • Hourakhsh Ahmad Nia Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Alanya University, Türkiye

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53808/KUS.2024.21.02.1257-se

Keywords:

children-friendly, generation-Z, responsive, urban spaces, safety

Abstract

In the urban setting, children face several problems that prevent them from having a normal childhood, such as excessive traffic congestion, rapid urbanization and lack of open spaces. Recently, child-friendly urban design has been receiving a significant attention because of its exceptional benefits which include realizing children’s demands and preferences. Creating secure, children-friendly play spaces contributes to preventing children from crimes and traffic injuries while at the same time promoting their creativity and enhancing their communication abilities. This paper discusses the topic of child-friendly play spaces which have a major positive impact on children’s quality of life, health and growth. For this purpose, the study follows a theoretical approach through understanding childhood and play concept. It highlights the importance of creating outdoor play spaces for children. Also, the study presents the main characteristics and design principles of children-friendly play spaces. This is followed by an analysis of related examples. The expected outcomes of this study is to introduce an adapted design paradigm for safe children-friendly play spaces. The study aims to create outdoor urban spaces with children’s needs in mind and fulfill their rights in a comprehensive manner which can lead to sustainable communities.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Alshahed, S. and Aly, Sherine. (2022). Designing Public Open Spaces After the Pandemic: Towards a Healthy and Safe Environment. FURP Conference: Contingency Planning of Adaptive Urbanism. 20, 99-118. https://doi.org/ 10.21608/furp2022.2022.1817

Bao, Y., Goa, M., Luo, D. and Zhou, X. (2021). Effects of Children Outdoor Physical Activity in the Urban Neighborhood Activity Space Environment. Frontiers in Public Health. 9. https://doi.org/ 10.3389/fpubh.2021.631492

Batron, H., Thompson, S., Burgess, S. & Grant, M. (2015). Routledge handbook of planning for health and wellbeing. 1st ed. Routledge.

Belfast Healthy Cities. (2021). Designing Places for Children & Young People: Guidelines for Child-Centered Planning, Design and Stewardship for the Built Environment in Northen Ireland.

CABE Space (2004). Involving youn people in the design and care or urban spaces: What would you do with this space?. CABE Education.

Commission for Children and Young People (July 2011). Building spaces and places for children and young people. Western Australia

Faragallah, R. (2018). The impact of productive open spaces on urban sustainability: The case of El Mensheya Square-Alexandria. Alexandria Engineering Journal, 57(4), 3969-3976. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aej.2018.02.008

Faber, A. & Kuo, F. (2009). Children with Attention Deficits Concentrate Better after Walk in the Park. Journal of Attention Disorders. 12(5), 402-409. https://doi.org/10.1177/1087054708323000

Farouk, S., Refaat, M. and El Messeidy, R. (2022). Landscape Design as a Tool to Meet Children’s Needs in Residual Urban Spaces. Civil Engineering and Architecture. 10(5A), 271-287. https://doi.org/ 10.13189/cea.2022.101413

Fouad, R. and Elsaid, H. (2021). Promoting Children Tourism through Applying Virtual Reality to the Egyptian Child Museum. International Journal of Heritgae, Tourism and Hospitality. 15(2), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.21608/ijhth.2022.224770

Gandah, F. (2017). Children & Outdoor Urban Spaces Planning. Arts and Design Studies. 55, 27-32.

Jones, AP., Coombes, EG., Griffin, SJ. & Van, S. (2009). Environmental Supportiveness for physical activity in English children: a study using global positioning systems. International Journal of Behavior Nutrition and Physical Activity. 6(42).

Gehl, J. (2011). Life between Buildings: Using Public Space. Washington DC: Island Press.

Koohsari, M.J. (2015). Public open space, physical activity, urban design and public health: concepts, methods and research agenda. 33, 75-82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2015.02.009

Krishnamurthy, S., Reijnders, C.S., & Stav, T. (2018). Child-Friendly Urban Design: Observations on Public Space from Eindhoven (NL) to Jerusalem (IL).

Madkour, E., Afifi, E. & Khalil, S. (July 2023). A Proposed Model for Measuring the Performance of Urban Child’s Activity Spaces. Engineering Research Journal (Menoufia University). 46(3), 381-390. https://doi.org/ 10.21608/erjm.2023.190878.1246

Marqués-Ibáñez, A. (2016). Development models for playgrounds in the contemporary urban fabric. Training and Practice. 14(1-2), 65-88. DOI: 10.17165/TP.2016.1-2.4

Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). (2013). The State of the World’s Children 2012: Executive Summary.

NSH. (2004). Friendly Health Care environment for Children and Young People. The Stationary Office, Department of Health. London.

Orr, D. (1992). The problem of education. New Directions for Higher Education. 77, 3-8.

Shackell, A., Butler, N., Doyle, P. and Ball, D. (2008). Design for Play: A guide to creating successful play spaces. DCSF Publications: Nottingham.

Shen, M., XY, M. & He, L. (2015). Study on the development characteristics and redeveloping direction of children’s playing space in high-rise housing estate. Hum. Geography. 30, 28-33.

Shi, Y. (2017). Explore children’s outdoor play spaces of community areas in high-density cities in China: Wuhan as an example. Procedia Engineering. 198, 654-682. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2017.07.118

Unicef (2012). Children in an Urban World. New York.

United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2014).

Wong, J., Parikh, P., Poh, B. & Deurenberg, P. (2016). Physical Activity of Malaysian Primary School Children. Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health. 28(5). https://doi.org/10.1177/1010539516650726

Woolley, H. and Lowe, A. (2012). Exploring the Relationship between Design Approach and Play Value of Outdoor Play Spaces. Landscape Research. 38(1), 53-74. https://doi.org/10.1080/01426397.2011.640432

Wright, H., Hargrave, J., Williams, S. & Zu, F. (2017). Cities Alive: Designing for Urban Childhoods. ARUP Publications.

Downloads

Published

30-12-2024

How to Cite

[1]
R. N. Faragallah and H. A. Nia, “Design Guidelines for Outdoor Children-Friendly Play Spaces ”, Khulna Univ. Stud., pp. 139–151, Dec. 2024.

Issue

Section

Science and Engineering

Similar Articles

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.