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.