The Changing Geography of Childhood

景观是如何创造的，以及这与儿童的不同社会目标有何关系，是地理学领域的重要理论问题。近年来，关于空间是如何由社会产生的，以及我们所占据的景观如何反映和影响我们的社会关系，产生了有价值的理论。但关于美国儿童日常生活地理的研究还很少。这项研究通过解决父母在为儿童创造不同景观和物质世界的更大力量中所扮演的角色，将这项研究置于理论建设的中心。从各种来源可以清楚地看出，在过去的三十年里，整个工业化国家的童年地理发生了巨大的变化。这项研究通过提供一个社区中儿童的空间行为和与物理环境的交易如何变化的综合描述，产生了关于儿童不断变化的性质的新理论。它利用了一个独特的机会，复制了30年前对新英格兰一个城镇儿童地理的研究，以突出正在影响父母和4至12岁儿童的不断变化的力量。这项研究包括两个部分：一是对今天社区儿童与1974年同一社区儿童的地理位置进行直接的横断面比较；二是对父母的家庭进行深入的纵向研究，这些家庭在孩提时代就参与了最初的研究，现在住在同一城镇或新英格兰的其他地方。横断面数据将涉及有儿童的受访者，以调查他们日常活动的空间限制、他们活动的空间模式以及他们如何区分和使用单独和与他人一起的场所。将对社区所有大约90名年龄在4岁到12岁之间的儿童进行汇总分析。纵向研究采用了多种方法，既有孩子，也有家长。除了在这项横断面研究中收集的数据外，它还将调查儿童在使用不同类型场所方面的代理程度、父母对儿童活动的监督做法以及如何与儿童谈判规则。此外，家长还将被问及他们对影响孩子空间活动的力量的看法，以及他们在日常物理环境中找到的品质，并将被要求讨论影响他们如何管理孩子的因素。将为每个家庭制作完整的数据地图和图表，并将根据父母的不同取向审查这些儿童地理家庭概况：他们对孩子的既定目标，他们对儿童发展的信念，以及对他们养育方式的综合衡量。这项研究将为日益增长的关于儿童空闲时间和游戏机会性质变化的全国性辩论提供信息。最近，在美国，公众对儿童空间生活性质变化的问题的认识与日俱增，这与新的国家对儿童肥胖的健康关注有关。但这种变化的本质远不止是体力活动的减少。这项研究将为环境政策制定者、规划者、娱乐专业人员和环境教育工作者提供宝贵的理解，让他们了解儿童在户外寻求的各种体验，以及这些体验正在如何改变。它还将提供设计方法的基础，使美国各地的其他社区能够记录和讨论儿童如何获得他们的环境，以及他们为他们的发展和福祉提供了什么机会。在学术界，人们希望这项研究将有价值地展示将地理学和发展心理学的理论和方法结合在一起的潜力。

How the landscape is created and how this relates to different societal goals for children are important theoretical questions for the field of geography. Valuable theory has been generated in recent years on how space is socially-produced and how the landscapes we occupy both reflect and influence our social relationships. But little research has yet been carried out on the everyday geography of children in the USA. This research is placed in the center of this theory-building effort by addressing the role of parents within the set of larger forces that create different landscapes and material worlds for children. It is very clear from a variety of sources that the geography of childhood has changed dramatically throughout the industrialized nations in the past three decades. This study generates new theory on the changing nature of childhood by offering a comprehensive account of how children's spatial behavior and transactions with the physical environment have changed in one community. It takes advantage of a unique opportunity to replicate research from thirty years ago of the geography of children in one New England town in order to highlight the changing forces that are influencing parents and children aged four to twelve. There are two components to the research: a straightforward cross-sectional comparison of the geography of children in the community today with the children of the same community in 1974, and an in-depth longitudinal study with the families of the parents, who participated in the original research as children and who are now living in the same town or elsewhere in New England. The cross-sectional data will involve interviewees with children in order to investigate spatial restrictions on their daily activities, their spatial patterns of activities and how they differentiate and use places, alone and with others. Aggregate analyses will be made with all of the community's approximately ninety, children aged between four and twelve. The longitudinal research involves the use of multiple methodologies with both children and parents. In addition to the kinds of data collected in the cross-sectional study, it will investigate the degree of agency children have in using different types of places, parent's monitoring practices regarding children's activities and how rules are negotiated with children. Also, parent's will be asked about their beliefs regarding the forces that influence their children's spatial activities and the qualities that they find in their everyday physical landscape and will be asked to discuss the factors that influence how they manage their children. Integrated maps and charts of the data will be made for each family and these family profiles of children's geographies will be reviewed in relation to the different orientations of parents: their stated goals for their children, their beliefs regarding children's development and a composite measure of their child-rearing style. This research will inform the growing national debate on the changing nature of children's free time and play opportunities. Public awareness of the issue of the changing nature of children's spatial lives has grown recently in the USA in relation to the new national health concern with obesity in children. But the nature of the change is much more than just reduced physical activity. The research will provide valuable understanding to environmental policy makers, planners, recreation professionals and environmental educators about the kinds of experiences that children seek in the outdoors and how these are changing. It will also provide the basis for designing methods that will enable other communities, throughout the USA, to document and discuss how accessible their environments are to children and what opportunities they afford for their development and well-being. In the academic world it is hoped that the research will be valuable in demonstrating the potential of bringing the theories and methods of geography and developmental psychology together.