Journal of Iranian Architecture & Urbanism(JIAU)

Abstract Extended Abstract
Background and Objectives: According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), children have the right to express their views about their living environment. They are also entitled to fundamental rights such as access to essential services, participation in decision-making, play, independent mobility and social interaction with friends, and access to safe, green, and accessible spaces within urban neighborhoods. In line with these principles, the concept of the child-friendly city and child-friendly urban spaces has become an important research topic in urban planning over the past three decades. Although extensive research has emphasized the importance and necessity of designing and implementing child-friendly urban spaces, their realization—particularly in developing countries such as Iran—remains limited.
One approach that has the potential to bridge the gap between research and practice in small-scale urban projects while maximizing public participation is tactical urbanism. Recognized as an emerging movement in urban planning, tactical urbanism promotes spontaneous, participatory, and community-led interventions in urban spaces. By emphasizing low-cost, short-term, and high-impact projects, this approach seeks to improve the quality of urban environments through the direct involvement of local communities.
This study aims to examine the application of tactical urbanism in the creation of child-friendly urban spaces and to develop a procedural and content-based framework for facilitating urban design with children through the tactical urbanism approach.
Methods: This applied study adopts a qualitative research strategy to examine the application of tactical urbanism in the creation of child-friendly urban spaces. Within this framework, an appropriate case study was selected, and data were collected from a focus group of 15 children living in the Sang-e Siah neighborhood, located in the historic fabric of Shiraz. Participants were recruited through convenience sampling in response to a public call issued by a local non-governmental organization (NGO) actively working in the neighborhood.
The focus group was facilitated by the researchers and conducted over three sessions comprising four stages, held at one-week intervals in the Moshir Mosque, located in the Sang-e Siah neighborhood of Shiraz. Following the tactical urbanism process, the initial stage focused on building empathy and trust among participants. Subsequently, data were collected through group discussions, children’s drawings, and written essays prepared by the participants.
The data obtained at each stage were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The findings were then categorized into five main themes: (1) characteristics of children’s preferred urban spaces; (2) children’s assessment of the current conditions of their neighborhood; (3) site selection by children for a child-friendly space within the neighborhood; (4) design development and scenario building for the selected site; and (5) the process of evaluating and selecting the preferred design alternative.
Findings: The findings of this study elucidate the tactical urbanism process for creating a child-friendly urban space. The results demonstrate that a thorough understanding of local characteristics and the specific context of project implementation plays a decisive role in informing decisions related to tactical urbanism interventions.
From a substantive perspective, the findings provide valuable insights into the characteristics of child-friendly urban spaces as perceived by children themselves. They indicate that safety and security, greenery, the availability of appropriate play and recreational facilities, and the cleanliness and hygiene of public spaces are the attributes that children consider most important.
From a procedural perspective, the study presents a five-stage tactical urbanism process consisting of empathy, problem definition, ideation, project implementation, and testing. Furthermore, it explains how these stages correspond to the design process of creating a child-friendly urban space at the neighborhood scale, providing a practical procedural framework for participatory urban design with children.
Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that tactical urbanism provides an appropriate framework, both conceptually and procedurally, for implementing child-friendly urban projects. Beyond supporting the realization of the essential qualities of child-friendly urban spaces, this approach enables children—the primary users of these spaces—to actively participate in decision-making and implementation processes.
Furthermore, given the low-cost, rapid, and flexible nature of tactical urbanism interventions, their application is particularly valuable in developing countries such as Iran, where limited financial resources and lengthy bureaucratic procedures often hinder urban quality improvement projects. By requiring relatively modest investment and minimal administrative complexity, tactical urbanism projects can enhance public satisfaction with urban spaces and strengthen residents’ sense of place attachment and neighborhood identity.
The findings of this research provide an initial conceptual and procedural framework that can serve as a practical guide for community-based organizations, urban planners, urban designers, and policymakers involved in urban management. This framework can facilitate the planning and implementation of child-centered tactical urbanism projects in Iranian cities.

Abstract Extended Abstract
Background and Objectives: Cultivating and teaching the concepts of the sustainable neighborhood to different groups of people has been one of the executive goals in order to achieve sustainable development in different countries. Therefore, the educational content presented in the form of sustainability topics in architecture and urban planning faculties, that are considered as the most important educational context of the concepts of "sustainable city and neighborhood" to future owners of these professions, is very important. The present study seeks to compare the perceptions of architecture and urban planning students from the sustainable neighborhood to be used in providnig the educational content of courses related to the residential complex and neighborhood design in these fields. The results of this analysis can be used in architecture and urban planning faculties to improve the different aspects of "sustainable neighborhood" for students and in architectural and urban planning projects. The main question in this regard is: What are the similarities and differences between architecture and urban planning students in prioritizing sustainable development aspects and indicators and using examples to achieve a sustainable neighborhood?
Methods: In this study, after reviewing the literature, 14 indicators in the form of 5 categories were selected as the indicators of a sustainable neighborhood. The questionnaire was comprised of open and closed questions, which were answered by 27 architecture students and 27 urban planning students at Shiraz University in one semester. The data obtained from the collected questionnaires were analyzed with two quantitative and qualitative approaches for spectral and descriptive questions. In order to analyze the quantitative data after transfering it to SPSS software, the "Friedman" and "Mann-Whitney U Test" were used to rank the indicators in each group and examine the differences between the two groups. Qualitative data were also qualitatively analyzed after their categorization and the formation frequency table.
Findings: According to urban planning students, the indicators of "vegetation and green space," "social interactions," and "attention to pedestrian-based transportation" are the most important in achieving a sustainable neighborhood, and indicators of "indigenous culture patterns," "clean energy" are the least important indicators in the lists. In the process of planning and designing a sustainable neighborhood, these students also pay the most attention and the least attention to the indicators of "pedestrian-based transportation," "providing security," and "promoting social solidarity" in the neighborhood. Architecture students mostly focused on the realization of sustainable neighborhoods according to the indicators of "privacy," "security," "social interactions," and "pedestrian transportation." According to architecture students, the indicators of "mixed user model" and "local employment" were the least important in realizing a sustainable neighborhood. In the design process, the least attention has been paid to these two indicators. These students also paid the most attention to the characteristics of "privacy," "vegetation and green space," and creating a "sense of belonging" in the design. Urban planning students focused more on functional and economical aspects in achieving sustainability, while architecture students paid more attention to the "cultural" aspects. The architecture and urban planning students both considered the indicators of "social interactions" and "security" in recognizing the social indicators of sustainable neighborhoods. Also, in the environmental aspects, "vegetation and green space" in realizing a sustainable neighborhood were recognized as important aspects and they were considered by both groups. In general, paying attention to the physical dimensions and especially the details of space design among architecture students and paying attention to functional and non-physical dimensions among urban planning students is evident in case studies. 
Conclusion: Although a part of the differences between architecture and urban planning students is due to the nature and the view of these two disciplines to the concept of "sustainable neighborhood," the consideration of neglected indicators and sustainable aspects in each discipline can contribute to the improvement of students' perception of the sustainable neighborhood. Therefore, paying more attention to the physical aspects and design details and the application of cultural sustainability indicators in teaching sustainable neighborhood design to urban planning students can be effective. In addition, paying more attention to the functional aspects of sustainable neighborhoods and the application of functional indicators in sustainable neighborhood architecture is effective for architecture students. In planning the course of architectural design 5 for architecture students, strengthening the "functional" and "activity" dimensions of the sustainable neighborhood according to the scale and the nature of the discipline and the practical exercises can help the the students to have a comprehensive view of the "sustainable neighborhood." Urban planning students need to further study and explain the "cultural" dimension of the sustainable neighborhood and especially its indigenous dimensions. Paying more attention to physical and aesthetic details in the design, apaprt form the general and functionalist view can lead to a better understanding of sustainable neighborhood.

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