Kids in the City: Children's Use and Experiences of Urban Neighbourhoods in Auckland, New Zealand

Abstract

Cities are largely designed for adults and cars, not children. Auckland City's new ‘children first’ approach signals a shift in policy focus to consider the needs of children. The authors' ‘Kids in the City’ research is helping inform this approach by providing policy-relevant information about children's use and experiences of nine Auckland neighbourhoods, suburban and inner-city, using trip diaries, child-led walk-along interviews and discussion groups. The children were neighbourhood key informants and co-producers of knowledge who reported on their environments, discussed what they liked and disliked, their safety concerns and their limited mobility, and made suggestions for more ‘child-friendly’ neighbourhoods.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the children and their parents for generous participation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Health Research Council of New Zealand [grant number 10/497] and the Royal Society Marsden Fund [grant number MAU 1011].