Independent Mobility

Supporting children's active and independent mobility in cities, creating walkable and car-free spaces, reducing and slowing down traffic are considered among the basic steps in creating child-friendly environments as they support children's physical and mental well-being. This study explores children's mobility in a car-free space to understand the effects of independent mobility on the perception of space. Büyükada in Istanbul defines a unique alternative due to its car-free living environment and offers a child-friendly environment and a significant potential to support freedom of movement. In this context, using 'mind mapping' methodology, a recognized visual thinking tool for structuring abstract thoughts, children's spatial perceptions and freedom of movement were explored through the drawn and written expressions of 20 10-year-old students living and studying in Büyükada. The paper discusses the findings of the fieldwork in this car-free settlement on children's active and independent mobility patterns and their promising potential for developing child-friendly urban policies. The findings show that living in a car-free environment enables children to have independent mobility, enabling them to connect with nature and the urban space in which they live and to develop socio-spatial ties with the community.

Physical activity and screen viewing are associated with cardio-metabolic risk factors, psychological wellbeing, and academic performance among children. Across the last generation, children’s physical activity and screen viewing behaviours have changed, coinciding with changes to the home and neighbourhood environment. This study aimed to qualitatively explore parents’ views on their 8–9-year-old child’s childhood and how this compares to experiences from their own childhood, with a specific focus on physical activity and screen viewing behaviours. Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with 51 parents (mean age = 41.2 years, range 31.5 to 51.5 years), between July and October 2016. Inductive and deductive content analyses were used to explore parents’ perceptions of their child’s physical activity and screen viewing behaviours in comparison to their own childhood behaviours. Interview data revealed that compared to the relative freedom they recalled as children, paren...

Background: Children's risky play is associated with a variety of positive developmental, physical and mental health outcomes, including greater physical activity, self-confidence and risk-management skills. Children's opportunities for risky play have eroded over time, limited by parents' fears and beliefs about risk, particularly among mothers. We developed a digital tool and in-person Risk-reframing (RR) workshop to reframe parents' perceptions of risk and change parenting behaviours. The purpose of this paper is to describe our RR intervention, rationale and protocol for a randomised controlled trial to examine whether it leads to increases in mothers' tolerance of risk in play and goal attainment relating to promoting their child's opportunities for risky play. Methods: We use a randomised controlled trial design and will recruit a total of 501 mothers of children aged 6-12 years. The RR digital tool is designed for a one-time visit and includes three chapters of self-reflection and experiential learning tasks. The RR in-person tool is a 2-h facilitated workshop in which participants are guided through discussion of the same tasks contained within the digital tool. The control condition consists of reading the Position Statement on Active Outdoor Play. Primary outcome is increased tolerance of risk in play, as measured by the Tolerance of Risk in Play Scale. Secondary outcome is self-reported attainment of a behaviour-change goal that participants set for themselves. We will test the hypothesis that there will be differences between the experimental and control conditions with respect to tolerance of risk in play using mixed-effects models. We will test the hypothesis that there will be differences between the experimental and control conditions with respect to goal attainment using logistic regression. Discussion: The results of this trial will have important implications for facilitating the widespread change in parents' risk perception that is necessary for promoting broad societal understanding of the importance of children's risky play. In addition, the findings may provide relevant information for the design of behaviour-change tools to increase parental tolerance of risk. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, ID: NCT03374683. Retrospectively registered on 15 December 2017.

Children are being used as marketers and consumers for the purpose of financial gain. Although much research exists about children's stance as consumers, very little is known about their role as marketers. Such lack of information indicates that children's authentic voices about their experiences are seldom articulated, heard, listened to, and acted on. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological heuristic study was to explore the lived experiences of former child participants in commercial activities in order to understand their perceptions as well as, the meaning, and impact of the experiences on their childhood development. The theoretical framework used included the theories of Bandura's social learning, Bronfenbrenner's ecological system, Vygotsky's social constructivism, Knowles' andragogy, and Meziro's transformative learning. The primary questions focused on participants' perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes, as well as the meaning, and impact such lived experiences had on their childhood development. The final sample consisted of 13 adults above age 18 who participated in commercial activities during their childhood and were selected through the snowballing technique. Data were collected, analyzed, and manually coded from multiple individual and focus group interviews. The thematic results and findings are necessary labor, cultural practice, belief system, power of tangible and intangible rewards, independent mobility factor, social dangers of risk factor, participants' affective response, and experiential learning. Implications for social change include the establishment of partnerships among schools, children, parents, and commercial industries to strengthen advocacy for, and effect improved conditions and treatment of child participants in commercial activities.

This study aims to discover the mobility of children in a car-free area to understand the effects of freedom of mobility on perception of space. Büyükada Island in Istanbul defines a unique alternative due to its car-free living environment and offers a significant potential in terms of creating a child-friendly environment and freedom of movement. Within this scope, “mind mapping” methodology used for exploring children's spatial perceptions and freedom of mobility through drawings and written expressions of 20 students of 10-years old, living and studying at Büyükada. This paper discusses the findings of a field study regarding active and independent mobility patterns and explores children’s perception of space in a car-free settlement which can be promising for developing policies for a child-friendly urban future.

This study investigates the relationship between various environmental
capabilities (physical, social, leisure, and emotional) and adolescent wellbeing across multiple dimensions (physical, emotional, and social wellbeing). Data were collected through questionnaires distributed to 737
adolescents aged 12 to 19 in Tabriz, Iran, in 2022. The study focused on
selected sites displaying specific adolescent behaviours in urban spaces,
including natural, commercial, sports, urban pathways and intersections,
and cultural settings. The questionnaires were used to evaluate environmental capabilities as independent variables and adolescent well-being as
the dependent variable.Multivariate regression Analyses were employed
to examine the impact of environmental capabilities on adolescent wellbeing within the defined typologies of urban spaces. The regression
analysis unveiled that the commercial sites significantly influenced adolescent well-being, particularly physical well-being (regression coefficient
= 0.437). It was found that environmental capabilities, categorized as
physical, social, leisure, and emotional, assume a pivotal role in adolescents’ well-being across physical, emotional, and social dimensions.

O lazer pode ser entendido como a tentativa de descontracção, a alienação das normais tarefas diárias, utilizando, para isso, actividades escolhidas de acordo com as motivações pessoais em que o objectivo principal é o prazer que se pode obter. Os objectivos deste estudo foram conhecer as práticas de lazer dos jovens que frequentavam as instituições militares de ensino em Portugal; verificar se existiam diferenças nas práticas de lazer de acordo com o nível de ensino; identificar os níveis de prática de actividades físicas e desportivas e analisar esses níveis de prática entre os vários ciclos de escolaridade. Os dados foram recolhidos por questionários e recorreu-se à classificação automática para a caracterização dos grupos. Os resultados evidenciaram que os alunos, nos seus momentos de lazer, privilegiam as actividades sociais e culturais/recreativas e confirmam que não se sentem atraídos pela prática de actividades físicas e desportivas. Estas actividades, por serem comuns à maioria, constituem uma vertente importante na vida dos mais jovens. A existência de programas que permitam a ocupação dos tempos livres com tarefas que suscitem a actividade física deve ser promovidas, para que as actividades sedentárias possam ser relegadas em detrimento de outras mais activas.

Risky outdoor play has been associated with promoting children's health and development, but also with injury and death. Risky outdoor play has diminished over time, concurrent with increasing concerns regarding child safety and emphasis on injury prevention. We sought to conduct a systematic review to examine the relationship between risky outdoor play and health in children, in order to inform the debate regarding its benefits and harms. We identified and evaluated 21 relevant papers for quality using the GRADE framework. Included articles addressed the effect on health indicators and behaviours from three types of risky play, as well as risky play supportive environments. The systematic review revealed overall positive effects of risky outdoor play on a variety of health indicators and behaviours, most commonly physical activity, but also social health and behaviours, injuries, and aggression. The review indicated the need for additional "good quality" studies; however, we note that even in the face of the generally exclusionary systematic review process, our findings support the promotion of risky outdoor play for healthy child development. These positive results with the marked reduction in risky outdoor play opportunities in recent generations indicate the need to encourage action to support children's risky outdoor play opportunities. Policy and practice precedents and recommendations for action are discussed.

In a globalized society like ours, mainly ruled by economic principles, social responsibility gains much more importance nowadays regarding children's development on formal and informal education and training. The changes on the concept of children are innumerous and constant, as well as on teaching methodologies, economical and social policies that influence projects and programs reciprocally, goals and results. On what methodologies and instruments used on education is concerned, the focus has been transferred in recent years. Thus, it is also in this scope that the intervention of Ludotecas João de Deus takes place, as a democratization vehicle of apprenticeship in deprived households, concerning its role at Bairro 6 de Maio. In this kind of equipment, non formal education gains particular importance, being emphasized the role of playful-pedagogical activities in user's integration as well as in the Ludoteca itself regarding its surrounding environment. It is therefore based on this assumption that this study, whose aim is a better comprehension of the equipment's importance among children, residents in this social neighborhood of Lisbon's outskirts as well as population in general, tries to understand if whether the impact can or cannot be considered in the apprenticeship process, mainly through the mentioned methodologies.

PATTERN OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY OF SCHOLARLY RESUMO O presente estudo teve como principal objectivo inventariar o padrão da actividade física habitual de crianças em contexto escolar. O estudo foi realizado com crianças do 4º ano do ensino básico em duas escolas do Município de Vila Nova de Gaia/Portugal, com uma amostra constituída por 49 crianças de ambos os sexos, com idade média de 10 anos. O instrumento utilizado foi o acelerómetro portátil (Tritrac-R3D), colocado na cintura das crianças durante cinco dias. Os procedimentos estatísticos utilizados foram as medidas descritivas habituais (média, desvio padrão, frequências absolutas e relativas) e o t-teste de medidas independentes Os principais resultados foram os seguintes: (1) as crianças evidenciaram durante o período escolar um predomínio de actividade física de intensidade baixa, não realizando, no mínimo, 30 minutos de actividade física moderada a vigorosa diária; (2) os meninos apresentaram valores significativamente (p>0.05) mais elevados do que as meninas de actividade física moderada a vigorosa no recreio; (3) as crianças, mesmo em sessões organizadas de Educação Física, apresentaram um padrão de actividade física caracterizado pela sua baixa intensidade, não despendendo pelo menos 50% do tempo total da aula em actividade física moderada a vigorosa; (4) o dispêndio energético não expressou um comportamento diferente nas sessões organizadas de Educação Física e nos momentos de actividade livre de recreio.

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This text is highly current, since many of the recent rioters in London have referred to the poor environments, lacking spaces and services for children and young people, as being one of the reasons for their uproar. Claire Freeman & Paul Tranter are geographers who have conducted research on children's conditions and environments for several years. These New Zealand and Australia-based authors focus mostly on the urban environments in the English-speaking countries of the developed world. The book seeks to embrace childhood as a time of freedom and environmental adventure that, however, has to be supported by child-friendly settings, especially through building resilient neighbourhoods. The book is structured in three parts. The first part sets the scene and looks at the changing contexts of children around the world which have an impact on children's everyday lives. The second part examines the great variety of activity spaces that children inhabit, ranging from home, school, neighbourhood and city centre, including spaces for services, culture and nature. The third part deals with the creation of positive environments for and partly with children. The book concludes with reflections on the future that will be affected by the global challenges of climate change, economic crises and the rising culture of individualism, the meeting of which requires building resilience in children, their families and communities. The authors start by accentuating that the whole environment has to be designed with children's needs in mind. However, the problem is that there is no universal child, but a great variety of children in terms of physical, social and cultural characteristics, who live in different kinds of families and social, economic and environmental conditions. The changing context has been well documented with the provision of many interesting photographs and tables dealing, for example, with the different conceptualisations of childhood, diversity of family types, homes and functional places that children are embedded in, as well as with the changes in cities and lifestyles affecting children. Even the social and space-based paradoxes around children have been taken up, such as while children's lives are becoming richer, they are simultaneously also more deprived, because of the modern urban form and traffic. The authors keep on reminding us that space matters, because it impacts on behaviour, health and the spirit of community. The causal mechanism is not explained, although concepts, such as affordances, are used at times to provide theoretical depth. Space is seen as complex and dynamic. The history of children's environments and the changing context are well described. In recent decades the spatial and socio-cultural context of children's everyday lives has undergone many negative changes, due to the building of high-rise areas in the city centre and the urban sprawl of suburbs. The changes can be seen, above all, in the reduction of free play and children's independent mobility (CIM). The amazing fact is that although children live in different worlds, they tend to interpret the quality of the urban environment in a similar way. Several studies corroborate the results of Growing up in an Urbanising World by Chawla (2002) according to which children appreciate cohesive communities, green areas, places to meet friends and free movement without fear of cars or bullying. The second part of the book, dealing with activity spaces, also contains children's views of what a good home, school or a neighbourhood is like. The home is still the most important place for

This paper is an output from the project CAPABLE (Children's Activities, Perceptions and Behaviour in the Local Environment) being carried out at UCL, jointly between the Centre for Transport Studies, the Department of Psychology, the Bartlett School of Planning and the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis. The overall aim of the project, which runs from 1 August 2004 to 31 July 2006, is to examine the interaction between children and the local environment, including identifying how children use open space and streets, and why they go to some places but not others. This paper draws on results from questionnaires completed by children about the extent to which they are allowed out unaccompanied by an adult. The surveys were carried out in four schools, two in Hertfordshire, the area immediately north of London, and two in the London Borough of Lewisham. The purpose is to establish the extent to which the children are allowed by their parents to go out unaccompanied by adults. The issues covered include whether the children go out walking or cycling without an adult, whether they are allowed out alone to visit friends houses, go out after dark or to cross main roads. The results are considered in terms of the children's age and gender, and in terms of the households' car ownership level and the strength of its local social networks. It is found that more of the children in Hertfordshire are allowed out alone, despite the fact that the factors that seem to correlate with being allowed out unaccompanied are stronger in Lewisham. It is concluded that this may well be due to environmental factors, real and perceived.

In this paper, some of the methods that can be used to examine the outcomes from active transport interventions for children are examined. These include diaries, physical activity monitors, global positioning satellite (GPS) monitors, and maps. This is based on experience of these techniques gained by the authors in their research with children in Hertfordshire and Lewisham in London.

Children's travel behaviour varies from that of adults in several ways: they have less choice about where they go and often they are not allowed to travel unescorted by an older person. The factors that influence children's travel behaviour have changed in recent years, with the development of car-oriented lifestyles, increased numbers of mothers in employment and changes in attitudes towards children's independent mobility. The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of children's travel behaviour and its implications for their volumes of physical activity and so for their health. After considering the nature of children's travel behaviour and the factors that influence it, the effects of children's travel behaviour on their volumes of physical activity are discussed; then some measures being adopted in Britain to reverse the adverse trends are described. Conclusions are drawn in terms of the policy implications.

This dissertation considers whether there has been a change in the distances travelled from home to play destinations in a mainly rural county in West Wales between generations in five families. Group interviews have been conducted based on a semi-structured questionnaire and ordnance survey maps for each family member. Use of the maps enabled the measurement of distances travelled from home to play destinations accurately. In addition to the five families, six other questionnaires have been completed, a total of nineteen questionnaires have been completed with a participant age range of 18 to 84 years, with supplementary information provided on the play activities of children under 18 by parents. Information provided during the interviews illustrates a dramatic reduction in distance travelled between generations. Changes were made during the study in response to unanticipated outcomes leading to revised methods.

Children's independent mobility positively impacts their physical and mental well-being. However, parents' concerns regarding neighbourhood safety often restrict the capability of children to explore their surroundings independently. Our study of various parenting methods for supporting children's everyday use of public space is based on maternal perception of fears and the subsequent impact of those fears on children's limited exposure to spatial mobility. The study employs a qualitative retrospective approach to interview mothers in the Jakarta Metropolitan Area. We selected mothers with an argument that the impact of maternal figures on children's mobility is more significant than that of fathers. The research suggests that mobility experienced by mothers increases their perceived fears resulting in parenting practices that tend to discourage children from independently navigating public spaces. This study demonstrates that a significant reduction in women&#39...

Children's time and freedom for independent neighbourhood activity is severely declining, which may be adversely impacting their healthy development. This study integrates GPS activity monitoring and environmental analysis in a geographic information system with activity diaries, annotated maps, surveys, and map-enhanced interviews to conduct a deep pattern analysis of children's habitual neighbourhood behaviour (n = 23; aged 9-13 years) from each an urban and suburban school neighbourhood within London, Canada. Patterns in children's primary activities and settings, independent mobility (IM) levels, and perception and use of neighbourhood affordances are examined. Participants note a diverse range of local independent destinations, but habitually spend little time playing outdoors in neighbourhoods. Local activity related to free time available, perception of activity affordances, and license to travel independently. Social and environmental conditions of children's micro-neighbourhoods influenced independent destinations and domains. Neighbourhood planning should promote diversity of activity affordances and address conditions that support increased IM for youth.

Home school journey is part of the daily routine of children in many Indonesian towns and cities. The environment and its elements of the journey play an important role in promoting children’s active play. In the past two decades, many urban centers have been identified as unsuitable for children’s home school journey due to issues relating to high urban density and traffic congestion. As a result, many children are denied the opportunity to experience the outdoor environment while going to their school. Their everyday life is centered at two places which are their home and school for their safety and comfort. Therefore, this study examines the meaning of home-school route as a child-friendly environment from the perspectives of less privileged children in old city. The study observed 40 children, aged 9 to 11, from low income families that walked to their schools in the old city zone of Makassar, Indonesia. Data on children’s activities and their perceptual responses on the street ...

RESUMO: Objectivo: O objectivo geral do estudo é analisar a relação entre intensidade da actividade física (AF) realizada pela população idosa com 75 anos ou mais, com a respectiva sensação subjectiva de esforço (SSE). Introdução: Em Portugal, e de acordo o Instituto Nacional de Estatística, em 2011 cerca de 19% da população tem mais de 65 anos. Em 2050, as estimativas apontam que esta percentagem seja de 25%, ou seja, um quarto do país. O envelhecimento propicía um declínio físico e funcional, e para o retardar estão recomendados 150 minutos por semana de AF moderada. A forma como tem sido avaliada a AF tem por base um pressuposto de comparação com valores de gasto energético de uma população com uma média de 40 anos. É fundamental a realização de estudos que analisem a associação entre o nível de intensidade de AF com a SSE, para aferir se esta comparação é transponível para esta faixa etária. Metodologia: Trata-se de um estudo observacional analítico transversal, com uma amostra ...

Objectivo: O objectivo geral do estudo é analisar a relação entre intensidade da actividade física (AF) realizada pela população idosa com 75 anos ou mais, com a respectiva sensação subjectiva de esforço (SSE). Introdução: Em Portugal, e de acordo o Instituto Nacional de Estatística, em 2011 cerca de 19% da população tem mais de 65 anos. Em 2050, as estimativas apontam que esta percentagem seja de 25%, ou seja, um quarto do país. O envelhecimento propicía um declínio físico e funcional, e para o retardar estão recomendados 150 minutos por semana de AF moderada. A forma como tem sido avaliada a AF tem por base um pressuposto de comparação com valores de gasto energético de uma população com uma média de 40 anos. É fundamental a realização de estudos que analisem a associação entre o nível de intensidade de AF com a SSE, para aferir se esta comparação é transponível para esta faixa etária. Metodologia: Trata-se de um estudo observacional analítico transversal, com uma amostra constituída por 39 participantes, com uma mediana 77,0 anos de idade (percentil 25: 76,0; percentil 75: 80,0), sendo a mínima 75 e a máxima 86 anos. As variáveis são a SSE e a intensidade de cada actividade realizada. O protocolo de avaliação foi constituído pelo questionário de caracterização sóciodemográfica, Diário de AF e a Escala de Borg RPE 6-20. Resultados: Existe uma associação negativa significativa entre a idade e o gasto energético total (r s =-0,365, p=0,022) e uma associação negativa, moderada e significativa entre a idade e a SSE reportada média (r s =-0,521, p=0,001) e máxima (r s =-0,465, p=0,003). Observou-se uma associação positiva e significativa entre a SSE máxima diária e o tempo total dedicado a actividades físicas (r=0,367 e p=0,022) e o gasto energético total (r=0,569, p<0,001). Verificou-se igualmente que quanto maior o gasto energético total diário, maior a média da SSE (r=0,411; p=0,009). Existe uma concordância moderada e significativa (Kappa=0,475; p<0,001) entre a sensação reportada pelo participante e a classificação atribuída em cada actividade pelo Compêndio de Actividades Físicas (Ainsworth et al, 1993). No entanto, com uma tendência para a subestimação dos MET's atribuídos a cada actividade Conclusão: Os resultados do estudo sugerem que existe uma associação positiva e significativa entre intensidade da AF realizada e a SSE, aquando da realização da mesma actividade. Apesar desta associação ser moderada, este estudo sugere que a classificação que o Compêndio utiliza não é directamente aplicável à população idosa com 75 anos ou mais.

Independent mobility in a local environment is crucial for a child's development and physical activity, contributing to overall health and well-being. This methodological article describes a study capturing children's daily mobility in two residential areas in Turku, southwestern Finland, by combining the methods of GPS tracking, mobility diaries, interviews and questionnaires. Geographical positioning data enables analysis of spatial characteristics of children's mobility, e.g. the comparison to land use structure and analysis of the travel speed, while the qualitative data sets reveal how, why and with whom the travel was realised and the level of children's independence in mobility. The results show that children's mobility is clustered around homes and schools and evident gender differences exist; boys travel longer distances and at higher speeds than girls. The children in Turku are relatively independent and have extensive mobility licenses. However, the travel undertaken to practise hobbies or participate in organised leisure activities is realised in adult company and significantly dominated by car transportation. The results strengthen the observation that Finnish children are allowed to travel rather independently and to explore the surrounding environment without adult company, using active forms of transportation. The significant level of independence is a consequence of the high perception of safety, both from the children and the parents in the residential areas. The described mixed methods approach, combining objective measurement of actual mobility with qualitative data sets, is applicable for further mobility studies and the results offer implications for planning child-friendly urban environments.

In this article, we intend to discuss the children’s right to the city, assuming their role as &quot;spatialists&quot; who participate in the transformation of public spaces into meaningful places. The signs of change in the conditions and dispositions of society in relation to the presence of children, as a moving body that transits between unequal spaces, bring with them common territories to different disciplines that investigate childhood. Thus, we situate here the contribution that environmental psychology offers to the dialogue between areas of knowledge that problematize the physical and social invisibility of children and demand public policies for childhood as a condition of citizenship.

In this article, we intend to discuss the children’s right to the city, assuming their role as &quot;spatialists&quot; who participate in the transformation of public spaces into meaningful places. The signs of change in the conditions and dispositions of society in relation to the presence of children, as a moving body that transits between unequal spaces, bring with them common territories to different disciplines that investigate childhood. Thus, we situate here the contribution that environmental psychology offers to the dialogue between areas of knowledge that problematize the physical and social invisibility of children and demand public policies for childhood as a condition of citizenship.

A child’s independent mobility is essential to their social, emotional physical, and cognitive development and provides children the opportunity to explore and experience their environment. The freedom of free movement and security from all forms of harm is necessary for achieving the capability of bodily integrity which is one of the essential capabilities necessary for well-being. Despite this, research on child independent mobility in Africa remains limited. Hence, this paper focuses on parents’ perspectives on children’s independent mobility in rural towns in South Africa to understand the factors that enhance or impede children’s independent mobility. This is essential in suggesting guidelines and recommendations to promote the independent mobility of children in South Africa. A qualitative methodology was used as the research approach to guide the collection and analysis of the data. Data were collected from a sample of parents in the community and thematically analysed in ATL...

Gender relations in physical education's classes-students' perceptions The purpose of this study was to analyse how students, boys and girls, observe and classify the gender relations in the Physical Education (PE) mixed classes. The analysed data came by from 60 semi-structured interviews from Oporto secondary school students (30 boys and 30 girls). An inductive analysis and interpretation of the data was carried out following the information treatment by the program QSRNVivo. The results suggest that boys and girls analyse differently the gender relations in PE classes. Half of the female students understand that the relations are not good, expressing some complains about their colleagues' behaviours and attitudes which bother them offend them and lead them to a disinvestment in the PE activities.

A child’s independent mobility is essential to their social, emotional physical, and cognitive development and provides children the opportunity to explore and experience their environment. The freedom of free movement and security from all forms of harm is necessary for achieving the capability of bodily integrity which is one of the essential capabilities necessary for well-being. Despite this, research on child independent mobility in Africa remains limited. Hence, this paper focuses on parents’ perspectives on children’s independent mobility in rural towns in South Africa to understand the factors that enhance or impede children’s independent mobility. This is essential in suggesting guidelines and recommendations to promote the independent mobility of children in South Africa. A qualitative methodology was used as the research approach to guide the collection and analysis of the data. Data were collected from a sample of parents in the community and thematically analysed in ATL...

This paper draws on research in which 200 children were fitted with motion sensors and asked to keep travel and activity diaries. The findings show that walking and playing away from home can contribute significantly to children's volume of physical activity, with consequent implications for their health. Not only do both playing and walking provide high levels of physical activity, they are linked to other behaviours which further augment the level of physical activity. Children who walk rather than use the car tend to be generally more active than other children, and children tend to be more active when they are out of their homes than when they are in them. The findings are placed in the context of other research about children's travel and physical activity, and conclusions drawn about the need to reverse current trends in children's patterns of travel and physical activity. Ó 2007 The Author(s). Journal compilation Ó 2007 National Children's Bureau. 2004). In Great Britain, the percentage of children aged 2-10 who are obese increased from 9.9% in 1995 to 13.7% in 2003. Over the same period, the percentage who were overweight rose from 22.7% to 27.7% (Jotangia and others, 2005). Biddle and others (1998) recommended that all young people participate in physical activity of at least moderate intensity for 1 h per day. This is now the guideline recommended by the Department of Health (2004). Biddle and others (1998) stated that moderate intensity activities for children may include brisk walking, cycling, swimming, most sports or dance, and that such activities may be carried out as part of transportation, physical activity, games, sport, recreation, work or structured exercise and, for younger children, as part of active play.

This is the final report on the CAPABLE project (Children&#x27;s Activities, Perceptions And Behaviour in the Local Environment), which has been carried out at University College London (UCL), with funding from EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council), under ...

This grounded study explores the role of transport, broadly conceived, in shaping and differentiating the everyday mobilities of children and young people in contemporary urban Australia. Drawing on approaches from across urban, transport and children and young people's geographies, and the sociology of mobilities, the research investigated the everyday travel of 82 children, aged 9 to 12 years, and 176 young people, aged 13 to 15 years, living in Blacktown, Western Sydney who described their use of transport to a range of educational, social, cultural and recreational activities. Blacktown epitomises many aspects of urban Australia. Blacktown is a local government area with a large, rapidly growing, comparatively youthful, culturally and socially diverse population of more than 300,000 people. It has a variety of urban forms and is serviced by a mix of public transport, local buses and rapid bus transit ways, and the metropolitan road and rail networks. The research was conducted in government schools (five secondary and three primary schools) located in five different neighbourhoods. The neighbourhoods were distinguished by their location in relation to the Blacktown city centre, urban form and socioeconomic characteristics. The research adopted a child-focussed methodology and a mixed method design. A variety of quantitative and qualitative data was derived from classroom discussions, local area walking tours with photography, video recordings, individual drawings, maps, travel and activity diaries and interviews. From the materials produced this thesis illustrates how children and young people are negotiating their everyday mobilities afforded by the available transport network as well as by the dynamics of their own households. It argues that children's and young people's 'everyday mobilities' are irreducibly situated within the context of their households and urban spaces, which must be better understood and adequately addressed in policy and planning to achieve a more age-responsive, sociallyinclusive urban transport policy and planning. v Table of Contents Statement of Authentication .