Researchers explore the impact of children's participation on
urban planning and decision-making for creating safer
environments
BUSAN,
South Korea, July 12,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The United Nations Convention on
the Rights of the Child defined child-friendly cities as those that
prioritize children's access to safe environments, healthcare,
education, green spaces, and the right to participate in
decision-making processes about their surroundings. Despite their
importance, children are often overlooked in urban planning,
consulted mainly for ideas rather than being actively involved in
their implementation. Involving children fosters community
interaction and enhances their understanding of how physical
environments impact well-being. However, children often face
exclusion from public spaces due to limited capacity for
independent movement and physical activity.
Recently, researchers from Pusan National
University, led by Professor Donghyun Kim, Associate Professor at the
Department of Urban Planning and Engineering, aimed to address this
gap. Their study focused on conducting a participatory planning
process with children to improve walking safety in a school zone in
Busan. This study was published
online on 17 June 2024 in Planning
Theory & Practice. Dr. Kim explains, "Our study aims to
construct a community participatory planning process involving
children and apply this planning process to a case related to the
road safety problem of the school zone."
The study used a three-step participatory community planning
process, involving interactions between the planner (six
undergraduate and five graduate students from the Department
of Urban Planning and Engineering at Pusan National University) and participants (89 children
of grades 5 and 6). Initially, both planner and participant groups
conducted separate field work and community mapping exercises.
Despite challenges, the children effectively identified various
walking safety risks, such as illegal parking zones, intersections,
unsafe crosswalks near their school, which were mapped and
discussed using online tools like KakaoTalk Open Chat. All the
identified spaces were congested with heavy vehicle movement in
unpredictable directions and speeds.
In the second step, the planner group reviewed their findings
and developed multiple solutions for the identified problems.
Children ranked preferences among the proposed solutions based on
safety, impact, convenience, and cost, through an online survey.
Sites for the selected solutions, including pedestrian-first
streets, raised crosswalks, painted sidewalks, and bollards to
prevent illegal parking, were then marked using Google
Jamboard.
The final step involved creating a comprehensive community
walking safety plan. Combining the survey results, the planners
proposed installing pedestrian-first streets, painting sidewalks,
adding bollards, marking crosswalks, and installing parking
entrance alarms in and around the school area. This plan was then
presented to the local government and local council as a policy
proposal.
The study highlighted how children successfully took part in
participatory planning, despite challenges posed by COVID-19
restrictions and varying participant interest. Community maps,
virtual tools, and shared understanding allowed children to
effectively participate.
Dr. Kim pointed out, "Our study shows that children can be
the main actors in planning for community issues. The communicative
planning process proposed in our study can be applied to bridge the
gap between planners and residents in solving problems of various
themes such as pedestrian safety for children, community renewal,
and community climate change adaptation."
To conclude, this innovative urban planning approach empowers
children, enabling their unique perspectives to contribute towards
creating safer and more inclusive environments.
Reference
Title of original paper: Children as Key Actors in Participatory
Planning: Co-Working Experience of Community Planning for Walking
Safety Around Bongrae Elementary School in South Korea
Journal: Planning Theory & Practice
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14649357.2024.2363790
About the institute
Website:
https://www.pusan.ac.kr/eng/Main.do
Contact:
Jae-Eun Lee
82 51 510 7928
380300@email4pr.com
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SOURCE Pusan National University