Architecture, Building and Planning - Theses
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ItemCitizen kid: children’s independent mobility and active citizenship( 2014)This research addresses the question of children’s active citizenship in relation to their independent mobility and aims to provide practical advice and tools for urban planning practitioners for involving children in decisions about the city. The nexus between ‘independent mobility’, ‘active/social citizenship’ and ‘urban planning’ involves a perplexing paradox about children’s rights, participation and their position as citizens. On the one hand, a rhetorical shift towards ‘children’s rights’ has emerged (as expressed in Australia being a signatory to the 1989 UN Convention of the Rights of the Child and in national child-centric policy and programming such as ‘Child Friendly Cities’). On the other hand, evidence reveals the rapid decline in independent mobility for children and in their freedoms to use the city in ways that suit childhood need. This is, reinforced by mainstream planning practice that, in general, ignores or excludes children from participating in decisions about (and even use of) the public realm in our cities. In responding to this paradox, increasing research interest has been applied to children’s independent mobility, the rapid decline in how freely children are able to engage independently with the city and the benefits that this disappearing independence has for children’s development, health and wellbeing. Concurrently, another research interest has emerged around the contested and often exclusionary nature of the city and in ways in which understandings of social citizenship and participation in urban planning decision-making can be expanded better to include the traditionally excluded, including children. This PhD research links these two research interests by examining the relationship between children’s independent mobility and social connectedness to the city and children’s active citizenship and their rights to the city. A goal of the research is to support urban planning in responding robustly to children’s social wellbeing as well as their rights to the city as citizens. The PhD partners with and contributes to the findings of a larger national study funded by an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant (CATCH - Children Active Travel Connectedness and Health – DP 1094495) examining how factors in the built, social and policy environments influence the independent mobility and active travel of children aged 10 to 13 across a range of urban environments in four Australian cities. The research addresses two core research questions: 1. Is there a relationship between independent mobility and children’s citizenship and belonging in the city, particularly as understood by children themselves? 2. How can urban planning practitioners capture children’s independent experiences of the city in robust ways that will respect child citizens’ contributions, build their role as citizens and aid in responsive planning and development? The research takes a critical/social constructivist approach, employing mixed methods (including survey analysis, visual analysis and a community-based participatory action research extension project) to address the research questions and contribute to the findings of CATCH and the PhD.