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Sweden’s most child-dense environments are inner-city neighbourhoods with traffic-congested city streets and city parks, and densely populated suburban environments with traffic separation and green areas
(Spacescape, 2022). The prioritisation of traffic, together with increased concern among guardians about crime and insecurity, has resulted in children’s opportunities to move around the city on their own being drastically reduced (Jungmark, 2021; Krysiak, 2020). Children today spend much more time in structured activities or indoors with technology and much less time playing freely outdoors. Many families living in cities experience car dependency in their daily lives due to commuting but also because children need a lift to school, friends and leisure activities.
For us at Gatulabba, independent mobility is about enabling everyday adventures. These adventures, which you as an adult still remember as experiences that have shaped you as an individual. If you are not able to go on your own adventures without your parents, you will miss out on exploring the neighbourhood with friends, challenging yourself on your own, making mistakes and learning from them, and eventually realising that you can handle the challenges.
However, there are many reasons to promote children’s mobility: limited mobility can lead to sedentary behaviour and health problems among children and young people. Both mental and physical ill-health are on the rise in this group, while we know that children who have independent mobility spend twice as much time outdoors, have better social skills and have significantly better mental health (Gray, Lancy and Bjorklund, 2023).
Independent mobility gives children the opportunity to explore their environment and develop creativity and problem-solving skills. Encouraging freedom and independence in movement promotes children’s ability to think independently and solve problems on their own. Giving children the freedom to explore and make their own decisions in urban areas promotes the development of self-confidence and responsibility. Dealing with different situations on their own leads to children learning important life skills and increasing their self-confidence. When children have the opportunity to move independently in their neighbourhood, stronger and more cohesive neighbourhoods are created. Parents and neighbours can feel confident that children are exploring their neighbourhood, which promotes social interaction and community cohesion.
However, there is an opening to be seized right now: several factors, including environmental requirements and noise, are calling into question car traffic in urban environments. This opens up the possibility of redefining the role of the street and increasing children’s freedom of movement. However, there is a knowledge gap. To persuade decision-makers to prioritise investments in more child-friendly urban planning, we need skills, methods and strategies.
Although research clearly shows that children’s physical (Faskunger, 2008), mental (Chatterjee, 2005) and social (Villanueva et al., 2016) health is affected by opportunities for outdoor play, children’s independent movement is not prioritised in urban planning, and spaces for children in cities are decreasing (Schneider and Jansson, 2023; SCB, 2018) as well as their opportunities to move freely (O’Brien et al., 2000; Carver et al., 2008; Woolley & Griffin, 2015). Effective methods and strategies need to be developed to change this negative trend.
Increasing children’s independent mobility in Western cities is an investment in their current and future health and well-being. By creating cities that foster freedom and independence for children, we are building the foundations for a generation that is physically healthy, mentally robust and socially aware. It is time to reassess our urban planning strategies and prioritise children’s right to independent movement in our quest to create healthier and more sustainable communities.
The main challenge to children’s independent movement identified by Gatulabba – which is in line with existing research – is parental anxiety (Johansson, 2006; Pont et al., 2011). When parents fear traffic, but also the danger of strangers, it negatively affects children’s independent movement. Thus, it is the behaviour of parents that needs to change.
At Gatulabba, we want to work on finding ways to help parents feel more comfortable letting their children go on their own everyday adventures, by identifying streets that are important from a child’s perspective and redesigning them to be not only safer, but also more friendly, sociable and playful. By not only making streets safer, but also signalling that they are for children, concerns about being a bad parent who ‘lets their children out’ can be alleviated.
In Gatulabba, we have realised that child-friendly streets, from the children’s own perspective, need to be not only safe but also playable. Furthermore, it has become clear that children need to feel seen in the street space and use colour and shape to signal that the street space also belongs to them. Creating playable street environments also provides important values for children’s sense of being seen.
In addition to the above, there are three principles to be applied to promote children’s freedom of movement: focus on safety, clarity and experience:
When it comes to designing environments where children and young people move around on their own, it is important to always ask the question: Is motorised traffic really necessary here?
Conflicts between children travelling on their own and motor vehicles and fast bicycle traffic must be avoided.
In areas where many children and young people are active, such as residential areas, squares, school grounds, parks, train stations and other municipal places, it is crucial to create safe and low-traffic zones. This can be achieved by minimising through traffic as much as possible and incorporating speed limits (20 km/h and 30 km/h) if motor traffic cannot be avoided. To promote the safety of children on the road, it is also important to develop safe cycling and school routes. These routes should give children priority over motorised traffic and encourage walking or cycling as a means of transport. School hours should also be coordinated with traffic flow to avoid conflicts, with the norm that there should be no freight traffic during school start and finish times.
Finally, it is also important to emphasise the importance of nodes and critical links at different levels. These areas, identified by both children and parents, must be designed with children’s safety as a top priority. A weak link in the transport system can prevent children from feeling safe and independent in their movement space.
The layout of the space should be clear and easy to understand to allow children to take their time and understand the traffic situation – after all, children learn the traffic situation step by step. It is also important to avoid unnecessary changes in materials, signage, width, colour and designation, etc. Make clear design choices and be inspired by and benefit from advances in mobility policy.
To ensure children’s safety, it is important that motorised traffic is always aware of children moving on or crossing the road. Therefore, obstacles in public spaces that may block children’s view should be removed, such as rubbish bins, parked cars, electrical cabinets and bushes. Develop a child-centred mobility plan in your municipality and/or city.
Guide children in their learning process to walk step by step, together with the children and from the earliest possible age. Of course, it is the parents’ responsibility, but it works even better if the municipality, schools or neighbourhood associations also provide support in this.
Always keep in mind that independent mobility for children is a multifaceted learning process that is dependent on context and individual children Engage children and their parents in mobility issues and design plans. Join them and listen. You can find inspiration in our methodology bank on child involvement.
Observe and study children’s behaviour. Ask yourself questions like: Why are there few or many children here? Is there a need for a lot of supervision? Which paths do children choose? Are the premises easily accessible to children? Can they get there themselves? Are the children visible on the streets?
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