Introducing urban vitality as a determinant of children's healthy mobility habits: a focus on activity engagement and physical activity

In this study we introduce urban vitality as a determining factor for both physical activity (PA) and activity engagement in children living in Barcelona's Metropolitan Region. We compare the physical outcomes of children living in vital and non-vital areas using mobility data taken from a travel survey. Chi-square, and association tests were used to compare the health outcomes of children living in vital and non-vital areas. Specifically, we measured for activity engagement, walking for transport, minutes of PA and adequacy to World Health Organization PA recommendations. Results are stratified by age and gender and reveal how living in a vital area can produce up to 54 minutes more of PA per week, with a difference of nearly 20% in the number of outdoor activities undertaken. Neighbourhood vitality promotes healthier mobility habits, as children living in buzzing areas tend to engage in more activities and spend more minutes walking for transport.     

BLOCK,NEIGHBOURHOOD OR DISTRICT? THE IMPORTANCE OF GEOGRAPHICAL SCALE FOR AREA EFFECTS ON EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT

Researchers show an increasing interest in the question of how a neighbourhood influences its residents. The crucial question is whether place‐related factors have an independent effect on individual life chances. This study examines adolescent development, with educational attainment as the dependent variable. It further addresses contextual effects that emerge at different intra‐urban geographical scales by exploring spatial effects at block, neighbourhood and district level in Oslo, Norway. How does the population composition at the three scales affect the level of future educational attainment for adolescents? What are the most important aspects of the population? Is the impact of various population indicators similar or different across the three scales? A number of causal mechanisms, which operate at different geographical scales, such as social interaction, shared social spaces, stigmatization and institutional resources are discussed. The study has a longitudinal approach, and includes register‐based information about the whole population of Oslo and a young target population. The analysis is based on two‐, three‐ and four‐level modelling. The results reveal significant effects on the youth's future educational attainment at all geographical levels and for all tested measures of social and demographic area composition. The share of low‐educated neighbours seems to have the strongest impact. Contradictory to most other studies, the results show that the highest geographical level (district) has the strongest effect. This surprising result is tentatively interpreted to emerge from a combination of three interwoven mechanisms: the youths' extended activity spaces and social interactions, the institutional aspects (schools), and place stigmatization.     

A comparison study of children's independent mobility in England and Australia

We compared independent mobility (freedom to move around the neighbourhood – or similar – without adult accompaniment) among English and Australian schoolchildren. Parents reported mobility licences granted to their children (e.g. allowing them to cross main roads alone) and accompaniment on local trips. Children reported travel mode to school. We examined associations between mobility licences and independent school journeys, and accompaniment on local trips. Among 10–12-year-olds, English children had more licences than Australian children. Mobility licences were directly associated with independent school journeys among primary but not among secondary schoolchildren who travelled further; and inversely associated with parental accompaniment to other destinations. Influences on parental restrictions should be examined to promote children's independent mobility.     

‘Any place to raise children is a good place’: children,housing and neighbourhoods in inner Newcastle,Australia

Neighbourhoods are important spaces of interaction for children. This paper explores the perceptions of residents from seven suburbs in the inner area of Newcastle, Australia concerning what makes a good neighbourhood for children. Key factors identified by residents include the types of dwellings found in the neighbourhood (with detached houses being seen as preferable for children) and the quality of neighbourhood resources. Another important feature was social interactions within the neighbourhood, including interactions between children and adults and interactions between groups of children. The paper examines how different features of neighbourhoods interact to create adult perceptions about whether a neighbourhood is appropriate for children. The paper also points to the ways that children are seen to actively produce the neighbourhood in which they live.     

‘My Journey to School …’: Foregrounding the Meaning of School Journeys and Children's Engagements and Interactions in their Everyday Localities

This paper gives prominence to children's own accounts of school journeys. The characteristics of school journeys in Fife, Scotland are outlined, and the nature of children's school journey experiences discussed. The focus is on children in the latter years of primary school, concentrating mainly on the experiences of those who walk without adult accompaniment on their school journeys. By drawing attention to the meaning of these journeys to children this paper brings to the fore children's active and imaginative engagements in and with their environments. This situates school journeys as an integral part of children's geographies indicative of the regulation of the child's realm and the active part which children play in redefining this.     

Does neighbourhood count in affecting children's journeys to schools?

This study examines two factors affecting children's school journeys – independent mobility and accessible school opportunities. Two time-geography based indicators, the spatial extent of potential path area and the number of weighted school places reachable (labelled OPP), are estimated. Multi-level modelling has been developed to analyse the interplay of individual, household and neighbourhood factors. Hong Kong is used as a case study because the neighbourhood effects on school provision within compact cities have not been well studied. The results show that 30.4% of the children's school journeys were made without adult companions. Half of the children walked to schools. The multi-level analysis suggests that nearly 90% of the variance in both indicators was found at the individual level. Neighbourhood, though not a decisive factor, does have impacts on the number of accessible school choices.     

Geographical Scale, the 'Feel-Good Factor' and Voting at the 1997 General Election in England and Wales

Many analysts associate voting patterns in Great Britain with electors' evaluations of the state of the economy, whereby those who think it has improved recently are likely to vote for the government's return to power, whereas those who think it has worsened are more likely to vote for an opposition party. Most of these studies consider the national economy only, but data derived from the 1997 British Election Study cross–sectional survey show strong relationships between votes and evaluations of recent changes in the electors' (self-defined) home areas. This paper relates those evaluations, and the resultant voting patterns, to the 'objective circumstances' in the respondents' home areas, using unemployment rates as an indicator of local economic well-being. Using specially devised data for 'bespoke neighbourhoods' around each respondent's home, we show that the probability of a vote against the government was a function of both 'objective conditions' and 'subjective evaluations', and that there were significant scale effects in this: people apparently reacted to very local variations when making their voting decisions.     

BETWEEN PLACES AND FLOWS: TOWARDS A NEW AGENDA FOR NEIGHBOURHOOD RESEARCH IN AN AGE OF MOBILITY

This article discusses the role of the neighbourhood in an era of increased mobility. It explores the consequences of the “new mobilities paradigm”, which argues that the growing importance of flows – of people, goods and information – results in a deterritorialization of social practices. Rows thus gain prominence in comparison to places like regions and neighbourhoods. At the same time, however, neighbourhoods continue to play a role in the actions and imaginations of people, neighbourhood organizations, and government policies. People still live in neighbourhoods, and governments still try to solve often severe social problems through neighbourhood policies. We argue that the neighbourhood has to be re‐imagined as a collection of hybrid nodes connecting a multiplicity of flows that bind actors and objects in order to understand the potential effectiveness of these policies. From this new mobilities perspective, we make suggestions for future neighbourhood research.