Keeping young families in the centre: a pathways approach to child-friendly urban design

ABSTRACT

This paper outlines the importance of pathway design in creating ‘child-friendly’ cities. There is concern that central parts of major cities have excluded households with children through the process of youthification. The importance of parks in creating child-friendly neighbourhoods is widely accepted, but the quality of the pathways connecting parks to residential areas has received less attention. This study develops a design assessment approach and compares the quality of pathways in youthified and family-oriented neighbourhoods in Portland, Oregon. A stronger focus on informal play opportunities along pathways and a systematic design assessment is recommended to advance child-friendly planning.

Acknowledgments

Thanks are due to Mazdak Shadkam who provided additional photographs from the case study neighbourhoods in Portland during a time when travel was not possible for the authors.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.