Children’s Mobility and Playability in the Neighbourhood of Río Piedras: Perspectives from Children and Adults

Abstract

Transportation planning has conventionally examined mobility from the standpoint of the efficiency of transportation systems, based on trips as units of analysis, overlooking the social needs of excluded groups, such as children. Understanding children’s geographies provides insight into one of the basic social needs of children, intrinsically related to mobility: play. Disadvantages in mobility, along with other social conditions further limit children’s autonomy in their neighbourhood. This chapter proposes the term playability as a concept that intertwines both needs. A case study of neighbourhood analyses the playability needs of children from their perspective and that of the community. Findings suggest that, in a walkable, built environment, issues from criminal activity directly influence children’s playability, even more than automobile presence. Furthermore, community perspective on playability, as mostly limited to structured play in designated spaces and time, separates mobility from play and thus limits opportunities for social inclusion. A change in both, acknowledging children’s need for play and mobility, and their reciprocity, and incorporating measures to improve it, may provide a different framework for transportation and urban planning at the local level, one that seeks greater social inclusion of children.

Citation

Peña-Rivera, N.I. and López-Navarrete, E. (2020), "Children’s Mobility and Playability in the Neighbourhood of Río Piedras: Perspectives from Children and Adults", Oviedo, D., Duarte, N.V. and Pinto, A.M.A. (Ed.) Urban Mobility and Social Equity in Latin America: Evidence, Concepts, Methods (Transport and Sustainability, Vol. 12), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 169-190. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2044-994120200000012012