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

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

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'.