Translating Children's Geographies of Happiness into Childhood-friendly Social and Urban Policies in Latin America.

我的博士研究探讨了儿童和青少年在日常生活中是如何体验城市的，以及这些体验是如何影响他们的幸福水平的。该项目探讨了儿童和青少年对城市空间的体验如何塑造了他们个人和集体的幸福感。该研究讨论了儿童和青少年的幸福作为一种社会经验，可以受到当地城市环境的影响和塑造，或增强或限制。此外，该研究还探讨了城市在物质环境和情感依恋方面的作用，评估了四个城市变量：(1)社交性，(2)可达性，(3)安全性，(4)环境质量。这为理解城市提供了一个全新的视角，并为城市政策、规划和实践提供信息，从而使城市蓬勃发展，城市居民茁壮成长。这项研究着眼于三个主要、复杂、更广泛的研究主题之间的相互作用：城市、儿童和福祉。因此，它为儿童与城市情感接触的复杂性提供了有价值的见解，并概述了论文中引入的儿童幸福地理。该研究采用了多种方法，包括对152名儿童进行定性调查，然后对724名受访者进行定量在校社会调查，调查对象年龄在8-16岁之间，来自城市不同的社会经济群体和地理区域。此外，还对当地从业人员和当局进行了采访。该研究提供了四个关键的实证发现：(1)儿童和青少年的幸福从根本上说是社会性的，是他们日常生活的一部分。(2)建成环境影响——增强或制约——儿童和青少年的日常幸福体验。(3)公共空间（如公园和街道）、商业空间（如商场和市场）和礼拜空间（如教堂和寺庙）是儿童和青少年体验幸福、快乐和满足的城市空间；(4)儿童和青少年的城市幸福感与环境有关，不应一概而论。在此期间，我将产生：1。在主要针对学术读者的高级期刊上发表三篇同行评议的文章。我的定量社会调查的更新版本，将在秘鲁利马和墨西哥城的网上复制。墨西哥，让我可以概述比较，并为未来的奖助金提案奠定基础。除了共享城市化水平和结构性城市特征外，墨西哥是一个有价值的研究案例，因为最近学术努力探索儿童和青少年的整体福祉，这似乎在该地区处于领先地位（见Valadez-Martinez， Padley, & Penagos, 2018）。这为该国的儿童福利研究提供了一个准确的概述，适合通过我的研究将城市环境的变量引入区域福利辩论来提供信息和扩展。针对非学术和更广泛受众的出版物。这将包括制作(1)儿童城市幸福工具包、设计和政策框架，为城市实践者（如建筑师和城市规划者）和决策者（市议员、市政当局）的实践提供信息。(2)一篇报告，包括我的博士研究数据，并补充了一个额外的案例研究数据。随后将有两份政策简报（一份针对利马，一份针对墨西哥），向政策制定者和城市规划和设计从业者介绍城市对儿童和青少年幸福和福祉的影响。向更广泛的受众传播研究成果。这将包括组织和举办一个为期一天的在线研讨会，介绍城市幸福工具包、设计和政策框架，并为“the Conversation”撰写一篇文章。

My doctoral research explored how cities are experienced by children and adolescents on an everyday basis, and how those experiences impacted their levels of happiness. The project explored how children's and adolescent's experiences of urban space shaped their individual and collective happiness. The study discussed children's and adolescents' happiness as a social experience that can be affected and shaped, - enhanced or constrained - by their local urban surroundings. In addition, it explored the role of the city in terms of both the physical environment and emotional attachment to it, assessing four urban variables: (1)sociability, (2)accessibility, (3)safety, and (4)environmental quality. This provided a novel perspective to understand the city and inform urban policy, planning, and practice in a way that allows cities to flourish and urban dwellers to thrive. The research sat at the interplay of three major, complex, and wider subjects of research: cities, children and wellbeing. Thus, it provided valuable insights into the complex nature of children's emotional engagements with the city and outlined what was introduced in the thesis as children's geographies of happiness.The study used a multi-methodological approach comprising a qualitative stage with 152 children followed by a quantitative in-school social survey with 724 respondents, in both cases aged 8-16 and sampled from different socioeconomicgroups and geographical areas of the city. This was complemented by interviews with local practitioners and authorities. The study provided four key empirical findings: (1)That children's and adolescents' happiness is fundamentally social and part of their everyday lives. (2)That the built environment affect - enhance or constrain - children's and adolescents' everyday experiences of happiness. (3) That public spaces (e.g., parks and streets), commercial spaces (e.g., shopping malls and markets) and worshipping spaces (e.g., church and temples) are urban spaces were children and adolescents experience happiness, joy and contentment; and (4)that children's and adolescents' urban happiness is context dependent and should not be generalised.During this fellowship, I will produce:1. Three peer-reviewed articles in high-ranking journals targeting mainly an academic audience.2. An updated version of my quantitative social survey that will be replicated online in Lima, Peru and in Mexico City. Mexico, allowing me to outline comparisons and build the foundations for future grants proposals. Besides sharing levels of urbanization and structural urban features, Mexico is a valuable case of study due to recent scholarly efforts to explore children's and adolescents' overall wellbeing, which appears to be leading in the region (See Valadez-Martinez, Padley, & Penagos, 2018). This provides an accurate overview into children's wellbeing research in the country suitable to be informed and expanded by my research introducing variables of the urban environment into the regional wellbeing debate.3. Publications targeting non-academic and wider audiences. This will include producing (1) a Children's urban happiness toolkit and design and policy framework to inform the practice of urban practitioners (e.g., architects and urban planners) and policy makers (City councillors, municipal authorities). (2) A report paper, comprising data from my doctoral research, complemented with data from an added case study. This will be followed by (3) two policy briefs (one for Lima and one for Mexico) to inform policy makers and urban planning and design practitioners on the impact of the city upon children's and adolescents happiness and wellbeing.4. Dissemination of research findings for wider audiences. This will include organising and conducting an online one-day seminar introducing the urban happiness toolkit and design and policy framework and writing a piece for 'The Conversation'.