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Abstract
Children represent a population group that is much neglected in the city planning process. Their perceptions, which are different from those of adults, are usually not incorporated in the design of cities. The aim of this paper is to present a qualitative GIS approach to capture children's perceptions of the urban environment. It gives a detailed insight into why certain perceptions occur and what the associated physical and social qualities are. The approach considers children as active participants and combines quantitative and qualitative methods. Twenty-eight children aged 10–17 were involved in examining the city-centre area of Enschede, the Netherlands. The results show both similarity and heterogeneity in perception (e.g. based on gender and age group) and the emergence of new location-specific qualities (e.g. natural elements, smart technologies, economic functions). It concludes with a discussion on the potential of incorporating this approach in urban planning processes.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank The International School Twente for their generous support and the anonymous referees for their valuable suggestions. Special thanks to Mrs Els Weir and Mr Remko Lulof, who welcomed this research in their classrooms and were actively involved in planning and facilitating it. An exclusive thank you is reserved to all the children who enthusiastically participated in this research.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
ORCID
Javier Martinez http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9634-3849