Growing Up in CitiesJordanUNDERSTANDING CHILDRENS ENVIRONMENTS

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Where To Go, Where To Play Are Their Any Places
For Us In The City A Qualitative Analysis of
Children Out Door Environment in Al-Wihdat
Neighbourhood and Environs, Amman, Jordan

• Prepared for
• Youth in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
•  
• Rabat , Morocco , 4th 6th of December 2006
• Dr. Eyyad Al-Khalaileh

All the photographs used in this research are the
researchers own photographs taken during the
fieldwork
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2 A GOOD CITY IS CHILD
CENTERED

• A good city is one in which children can grow
  and develop to the extent of their powers, where
  they can build their confidence and become
  actively engaged in the world, yet be autonomous
  and capable of managing their own affairs.
• Kevin Lynch, The Spatial World of the Child
• Director, original Growing Up In Cities project

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3 GUIC INTERNATIONAL FRAMEWORK

• 1968 UNESCO Man in the Biosphere (MAB) alliances
  of social and natural scientists and
  environmental professionals
• 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
  childrens rights to participate in development
• 1992 Agenda 21 children and youth must help make
  sustainable development a realitythat human
  beings are entitled to a healthy and productive
  life in harmony with nature
• 1993 UNESCO-MOST Programme emphasises
  sustainable development, and human rights
  approach to poverty eradication
• 1996 Habitat II Agenda children have special
  needs with regard to their environment

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4 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

• To understand childrens views, opinions and
  perceptions in the use of the urban outdoor
  environment within low-material resource
  neighbourhood in Amman, Jordan.

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5 THE URBAN
ENVIRONMENT

• Do outdoor spaces support or limit everyday
  activities and experiences necessary for healthy
  child development, within a low-material resource
  neighbourhoods in Amman, Jordan?

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6 AL-WIHDAT REFUGEE CAMP AND ENVIRONS
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7 IS THERE PLACE FOR CHILDREN IN THE CITY?
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8 DATA COLLECTION

• 32 one-on-one interviews with children
• 32 children drawings
• Child-taken photographs
• Three child-led fieldtrips
• Informal observations in the study areas
• Key informants interviews (teachers and local
  officials)

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9 DATA ANALYSIS AND REDUCTION
Grounded Theory (GT) Data analysis involves
searching out the themes behind the actualities
by looking for codes, then concepts and finally
categories (Strauss and Corbin 1998).
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10 RESULTS
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11 MY NEIGHBOURHOOD MAP GIRLS
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12 MY NEIGHBOURHOOD MAP BOYS
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13 MY FAVOURITE PLACES
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14 PHYSICAL QUALITIES OF THE OUTDOORS
Our neighborhood is very quiet and clean. All
the people especially the kids are very good and
polite. The streets are not crowded. The
streets are safe for us to play soccer and other
games(13 year old boy)
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15 PHYSICAL QUALITIES OF THE OUTDOORS
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16 ACCESS TO COMMUNITY FACILITIES
I cant go to the private parks because I have
to pay entry fees and I dont carry money. Also,
I cant go to the club street because there are
too many crimes and murders (11 year old boy)
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17 RANGE OF TRAVEL / TERRITORIAL LIMITS
my aunts house in Khalda area. We visit them
once or twice a week (12 year old girl) I
love to go to the Luna park because it is nice
and has a family atmosphere (13 year old
girl) The farthest place I went to is Jabal
Al-Hussain for shopping, and walking around...
(11 year old boy)
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18 SOCIAL THREAT, DANGERS AND FEARS
In order of frequency and emphasis, children
cited the following dangers

• Traffic danger
• Strangers/criminals
• Social threat
• Lack of familiarity

I do not like to go to the Al-Shwarah Gardens
because it is very crowded and full of bad teens.
There are a lot of policemen their because it is
very bad (11 year old girl) The Arcade games
hall dose not feel safe because too many bad
teens hanging there. The schoolyards are bad
places to go to in the evening because of the bad
teens and drugs (13 year old boy)
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19 DISCUSSION

• Streets are places for children to play and
  develop.
• Streets fall within the habitual range of
  childhood territory.

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20 DISCUSSION

• Commercialisation of public facilities deny
  childrens access and use.
• Childrens freedom of movement is facilitated by
  physical features

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21 DISCUSSION

• Male dominated outdoor spaces restrict female
  access to the outdoors
• Access to schoolyard as playground provide a
  viable opportunity for safe and protected outdoor
  environment.

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22 BOTTOM-UP / TOP-DOWN

• International Framework
• CRC / Agenda 21 / Habitat II
• National Policies
• Municipal Programs
• Local Actions

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23 POLICY DIRECTIONS RECOMMENDATIONS

• Gender disparity in access to public spaces
• Girls and children from disadvantaged backgrounds
  should be given more opportunities to access
  quality public spaces.
• Spatial inequality between gender and social
  classes has a negative impact on child
  development. The development of quality private
  and protected outdoor places for girls is
  critical and culturally supported.
• Community use of schoolyards and industrial land
  after hours, at weekends, and during school
  holidays provide a viable opportunity for safe
  and protected outdoor environment for children
  activities particularly, girls.
• Public policies needs to address the problem that
  girls and children from disadvantaged backgrounds
  have fewer opportunities to access safe, clean
  public spaces.
• Equitable spatial distribution of public parks
  and playgrounds by planning special places and
  activities for girls within these facilities.

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24 POLICY DIRECTIONS RECOMMENDATIONS

• Children participation
• Better consideration should be given to
  childrens needs in decision-making on the design
  of public spaces.
• Children participation in decision-making allows
  their voices to be heard early on in the design
  and maintenance of public spaces through
  regeneration strategies and land-use planning.
• Environmental education through exploration that
  provide for childrens innate sense of
  exploration and self-discovery through
  out-of-school learning.
• The environmental dimension of the public health
  agenda should give greater emphasis in public
  policies. Protecting childrens spaces is
  critical.
• The links between environmental policy and
  childrens well-being must be embedded into
  national policies to ensure delivery at local
  level.

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25 POLICY DIRECTIONS RECOMMENDATIONS

• Access to schoolyard as playground
• Schoolyards are the best and safe alternatives to
  parks and playgrounds
• school makes a feasible and achievable
  alternative to dangerous streets
• Utilizing the Al-Wihdat schools as playground and
  youth centres, girls will have safe and equal
  access opportunities to the outdoor environment
• Will remove children from a familiar but unsafe
  street environment, to another familiar but safe
  school environment.

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26 POLICY AND ACADEMIC IMPLICATIONS

• This research builds upon multi-disciplinary
  research on children and their environment
  (Growing Up in Cities and other research)
• Contributes to the collection of a new body of
  data to assist knowledge and understanding
• Encourage the development of new research methods
  which are sensitive to children's own
  perspectives
• Enables links to be established with a number of
  projects within the locality which target
  children as place users
• Complement other research initiatives within an
  international context, looking critically at
  experiments in other countries involving
  children's participation in planning and design
  of their environment (Growing Up in Cities and
  other research)
• The project informs policy makers about
  children's relationship with their physical and
  built environments and suggest mechanisms that
  will empower children in their attempts to
  articulate their place needs
• Many of the findings can be utilized to other
  urban settings in Jordan and MENA countries.