Making child-friendly cities: A socio-spatial literature review

Abstract

With more than one-third of children worldwide living in urban areas, the call for child-friendly cities (CFC) has increased in urgency; however, many cities are still largely unfriendly to children. This paper uses a systematic literature review and bibliometric tool to identify papers from Scopus between 2001 and 2020. It reviews the existing knowledge and gaps about child-friendliness within the sphere of socio-spatial urban planning. The findings reveal a three-dimensional perspective of the concept of child-friendly cities: rights, physical environment, and governance. Moreover, it shows that existing knowledge appears rather limited in its explanation of the governance processes that lead to translating children's rights into suitable physical environments. In the conclusions, a research avenue is proposed to close the existing gaps that can contribute to achieving CFC.