Planning for Informal Urban Green Spaces in African Cities: Children’s Perception and Use in Peri-Urban Areas of Luanda, Angola
| Autor: | Michihiro Kita, Seth Asare Okyere, Stephen Kofi Diko, Euridice Lurdes Jorge Pedrosa, Tracy Sidney Commodore, Louis Kusi Frimpong |
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| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
Economic growth
media_common.quotation_subject 0211 other engineering and technologies Psychological intervention Sense of place Social Sciences 02 engineering and technology perception 010501 environmental sciences 01 natural sciences Ecosystem services children Urbanization Perception Agency (sociology) Geography. Anthropology. Recreation Experiential knowledge Sociology 0105 earth and related environmental sciences media_common informal green space 021107 urban & regional planning Luanda peri-urban Urbanism |
| Zdroj: | Urban Science, Vol 5, Iss 50, p 50 (2021) Urban Science Volume 5 Issue 3 |
| ISSN: | 2413-8851 |
| DOI: | 10.3390/urbansci5030050 |
| Popis: | Urbanization has placed considerable constraints on the preservation and maintenance of formal green spaces in African cities. This situation has given attention to the potentials of informal green spaces (IGS). While studies on IGS in African cities is only emerging, scholarly and policy attention to children’s perceptions and use of IGS within Africa’s spatially expansive urbanism is limited. This study explores children’s perceptions, use, barriers, willingness, and suggestions for improving IGS in the peri-urban area of Funda in Luanda. Based on semi-structured interviews and focused-group discussions, the study revealed that, while IGS offered different ecosystem services, not all IGS were accessible to children, due to safety concerns, maintenance conditions, and parental restrictions. Children’s interest in maintenance activities and suggestions for improving IGS reflected their independent identities, sense of place, and cognitive capacity to contribute to planning their community. The paper submits that the potential role of IGS in Africa’s peri-urban areas can be improved by taking into account children’s agency and experiential knowledge of community spaces. For this reason, there is a need to recognize and engage children as co-producers of community knowledge and interventions. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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