Can the neighbourhood built environment make a difference to children’s development? Building the research agenda to create evidence for place-based children’s policy
Article
Article Title | Can the neighbourhood built environment make a difference to children’s development? Building the research agenda to create evidence for place-based children’s policy |
---|---|
ERA Journal ID | 15622 |
Article Category | Article |
Authors | Villanueva, Karen (Author), Badland, Hannah (Author), Kvalsvig, Amanda (Author), O'Connor, Meredith (Author), Christian, Hayley (Author), Woolcock, Geoffrey (Author), Giles-Corti, Billie (Author) and Goldfeld, Sharon (Author) |
Journal Title | Academic Pediatrics |
Journal Citation | 16 (1), pp. 10-19 |
Number of Pages | 10 |
Year | 2016 |
Place of Publication | United States |
ISSN | 1530-1567 |
1876-2859 | |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acap.2015.09.006 |
Web Address (URL) | https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1876285915002867 |
Abstract | Healthy child development is determined by a combination of physical, social, family, individual, and environmental factors. Thus far, the majority of child development research has focused on the influence of individual, family, and school environments and has largely ignored the neighborhood context despite the increasing policy interest. Yet given that neighborhoods are the locations where children spend large periods of time outside of home and school, it is plausible the physical design of neighborhoods (built environment), including access to local amenities, can affect child development. The relatively few studies exploring this relationship support associations between child development and neighborhood destinations, green spaces, interaction with nature, traffic exposure, and housing density. These studies emphasize the need to more deeply understand how child development outcomes might be influenced by the neighborhood built environment. Pursuing this research space is well aligned with the current global movements on livable and child-friendly cities. It has direct public policy impact by informing planning policies across a range of sectors (urban design and planning, transport, public health, and pediatrics) to implement place-based interventions and initiatives that target children’s health and development at the community level. We argue for the importance of exploring the effect of the neighborhood built environment on child development as a crucial first step toward informing urban design principles to help reduce developmental vulnerability in children and to set optimal child development trajectories early. |
Keywords | built environment, child development, neighborhood,physical environment, place-based, policy |
Contains Sensitive Content | Does not contain sensitive content |
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 420601. Community child health |
Public Notes | Files associated with this item cannot be displayed due to copyright restrictions. |
Byline Affiliations | University of Melbourne |
Wesley Mission, Queensland | |
Griffith University | |
University of Western Australia | |
Institution of Origin | University of Southern Queensland |
Funding source | Australian Research Council (ARC) Grant ID LP130100411 |
https://research.usq.edu.au/item/q5133/can-the-neighbourhood-built-environment-make-a-difference-to-children-s-development-building-the-research-agenda-to-create-evidence-for-place-based-children-s-policy
210
total views12
total downloads0
views this month0
downloads this month