Urban design strategies for creating child-friendly neighborhoods: A systematic literature review

In the era of global urbanization, prioritizing children's well-being in urban spaces has become crucial, yet they remain an often-overlooked demographic in urban planning and design. For children's well-being and healthy development, it is essential to recognize the significance of their interaction with the immediate surroundings-their neighborhood. While the Child-Friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI) has gained global recognition, there remains a lack of consensus on how to effectively implement this vision at the neighborhood scale. Moreover, the CFCI framework predominantly focuses on municipal or city-level policy and lacks a clear definition of the sociophysical qualities that make environments child-friendly. This research aims to bridge these gaps through a systematic literature review of peer-reviewed articles from 1997 to 2022 and identifies key characteristics that enhance child-friendliness in urban neighborhoods. The findings emphasize the importance of creating neighborhoods that promote children's well-being across three dimensions: physical, mental, and intellectual. Seven key components for designing child-friendly neighborhoods (CFN) are identified: play, active mobility, amenities, public realm, nature, place attachment, and learning environment. The outcomes of this study will serve as a valuable resource for urban planners, urban designers, policymakers, researchers, and stakeholders, fostering the development of more inclusive and child-centric urban neighborhoods.