The Role of Urban Design in Enhancing the Components of a Child-Friendly City (Case Study: Tabriz Metropolis)
Keywords:
Urban design, child-friendly city, Tabriz, green spaces, safety, children's participationAbstract
This study aims to explain the role of urban design elements in enhancing child-friendly city components and improving children’s quality of life in Tabriz metropolis. This research is descriptive–analytical with a quantitative approach. The statistical population consisted of children aged 5–18 living in Tabriz. A sample of 380 participants was selected using Cochran’s formula and multistage cluster random sampling. Data were collected through a specialized child-friendly city questionnaire covering nine main components and four urban design elements and analyzed using SPSS version 26. One-sample t-test results indicated that urban landscape, participation and sense of belonging, and social welfare were significantly above the theoretical mean, whereas accessibility, presence and interaction, and ecological components were significantly below the desirable level. Multiple regression analysis showed that urban design elements explained between 38% and 58% of the variance in child-friendly city components, with participation and sense of belonging being the strongest predictor. Significant differences were also found among different age groups of children. The findings confirm that child-oriented urban design—particularly safe pedestrian pathways, multifunctional green spaces, and child-scaled urban furniture—plays a critical role in enhancing children’s quality of life and promoting spatial justice and urban sustainability in Tabriz.
Downloads
References
1. Malone K. Child Friendly Cities: A model of planning for sustainable development. Designing Cities with Children and Young People: Routledge; 2017. p. 11-23.
2. Powell R. Child-Friendly Cities and Communities: opportunities and challenges. Children's Geographies. 2024;22(5):716-29.
3. Awada H. Fostering social equity in planning and urban design with children. Topophilia. 2024:11-5.
4. Perez-del-Pulgar C, Anguelovski I, Connolly JJ. Child-friendly urban practices as emergent place-based neoliberal subjectivation? Urban Studies. 2024;61(12):2349-69.
5. Jansson M, Herbert E, Zalar A, Johansson M. Child-friendly environments-what, how and by whom? Sustainability. 2022;14(8):4852.
6. Kasmita M, Niswaty R, Heri RN. Characteristics of Child-friendly Cities: A Bibliometric Study. Sawwa: Jurnal Studi Gender. 2024;19(2):281-304.
7. Cordero-Vinueza VA, Niekerk FF, van Dijk TT. Making child-friendly cities: A socio-spatial literature review. Cities. 2023;137:104248.
8. Pia NA, Bezboruah K. Urban design strategies for creating child-friendly neighborhoods: A systematic literature review. Cities. 2025;162:105919.
9. Ji X, Yang Y, Tang J. The study of sustainable design for child-friendly urban public spaces. 2023:369-79.
10. Fang K, Azizan SA, Huang H. GIS-based intelligent planning approach of child-friendly pedestrian pathway to promote a child-friendly city. Scientific reports. 2024;14(1):8139.
11. Tayefi Nasrabadi M, García EH, Pourzakarya M. Let children plan neighborhoods for a sustainable future: a sustainable child-friendly city approach. Local Environment. 2021;26(2):198-215.
12. Taheri S, Shabani A, Shaabani Sichani N. Enhancing children's participation in creating child-friendly cities in Iran: barriers and solutions. Health Education. 2025;125(3):316-32.
13. Michail N, Ozbil Torun A, Parnell R. Towards child-friendly and walkable cities: Children's insights on neighbourhood design. Cities & Health. 2025:1-20.
14. Wang Y. Evaluation of child-friendly public spaces and safety enhancement recommendations for Liuyun Community in Guangzhou: Politecnico di Torino; 2023.
15. Abedini A, Hosseinzadeh R, Belali M. Improving Child-Friendly urban spaces based on the right to the city model: the case study of Sardaran neighborhood of Urmia. Sustainable city. 2024;7(3):39-58.
16. Zhang L, Xu X, Guo Y. The impact of a child-friendly design on children's activities in urban community pocket parks. Sustainability. 2023;15(13):10073.
17. Fu Y, Wang S. Constructing an evaluation framework for child-friendly city: a case study of outdoor recreation spaces in Shenyang City, China. Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering. 2025:1-22.
18. Li J. The Construction of Sponge Public Space in Child-Friendly Cities-Takes the Waterfront of Macao as the Prospect. International Journal of Arts & Humanities Studies. 2024;4(1).
19. Avram SE, Barbu Tudoran L, Cuc S, Borodi G, Birle BV, Petean I. Microstructural investigations regarding sustainable recycling of ceramic slurry collected from industrial waste waters. Sustainability. 2024;16(3):1123.
20. D'Amico A. Examples of good experiences for child-friendly cities. Comparison of sustainable practices in Italy and around the world. TeMA-Journal of Land Use, Mobility and Environment. 2024:143-55.
21. Katsavounidou G, Sousa S. Reimagining Urban Spaces for Children: Insights and Future Directions. Urban Planning. 2024;9.
22. Ahmadavand S, Soltani Z, Goodarzi A. Analysis of child-friendly city indicators in Ahvaz metropolis. Urban Planning Geography Research. 2022;10(3):63-84.
23. Barandeh Z, Lotfi S, Aligholiadeh Firouzjaee N. Evaluating the Components of a Child-Friendly City (A Case Study of Amol). Urban Structure and Function Studies. 2024;11(41):143-65.
24. Shahmiri A, Za'imdar I, Mogouei R, Malmasi M. Presenting a model for safe urban environmental management and planning with a child-friendly city approach (Case study: Tehran Metropolis). Geography and Urban Space Development. 2023;10(2):113-31.
25. Ziyari K, Sarraf M, Pourahmad A, Farhoudi R. Explaining the principles of a child-friendly city with an urban environment improvement approach using the Delphi method and its application in Tehran's District 2. Geographical Research. 2021;36(140):174-89.
26. Alipour Tabrizi A, Mousavi SM, Taqipour Akhtari A. Using child-friendly city principles to improve dilapidated neighbourhoods, Tehran, Iran. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers-Urban Design and Planning. 2023;176(2):51-64.
27. Afshoon V, Afshari M, Motalebi L. A Model for Developing Child-Friendly Urban Spaces with an Emphasis on Play and Sports. Research in Sport Management and Marketing. 2025;6(3):39-54.
28. Kamali M, Salehi Marzijrani S, Timuri M. explanation Feasibility of applying the child-friendly city approach in designing the open space of Mehr residential complex to improve the safety of children (Case study: Mehr Vahdat housing in Shiraz). Journal of Sustainable Architecture and Urban Design. 2024;12(1).
29. Mottalebi G, Zarghami E, Bagheri H. Components related to citizen satisfaction through the development of child-friendly environments. Scientific Quarterly of Environmental Education and Sustainable Development. 2021;9(3):133-46.
30. Mosavimeher SM, Besharatifar S. Analysis and explanation of the urban spaces of Mahshahr Port from the perspective of the principles of a child-friendly city (Case study: Mehrumah Park). Journal of Urban Ecology Researches. 2025.
31. Saberifar R. Proposing a Model for the Formation of Child-friendly Cities Case study: Mashhad metropolis. Geography and Development. 2025;23(78):39-66.
32. Nugroho AM. A child-friendly design for sustainable urban environment: A case study of malang city parks. 2021;881(1):012060.
Downloads
Published
Submitted
Revised
Accepted
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Alireza Sabri (Author); Ali Azar; Ebrahim Taghavi (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
