Urban environments shape the everyday lives of individuals through their design, accessibility, and affective experiences–posing increasing challenges to shifting demographics of Europe, particularly vulnerable groups and individuals that include (but not limited to) ageing populations, lonely youth, and migrant ethnic[1] [u2] ities.
As sites of diverse interactions and pressures, European cities are increasingly called upon to enact the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by local and global agendas in efforts to adapt settlements and transform approaches towards inclusive, safe, and resilient human-environment engagements. These include enhancing the capacity of public spaces to facilitate good health and wellbeing (SDG 3)and contribute to sustainable communities and cities (SDG 11).Creating and/or optimising spaces that accommodate care tasks and foster mental and physical wellbeing in public space —including sidewalks, squares or public transportation stops— has become particularly important for improving the life quality of more vulnerable social groups whose needs are often overlooked in urban planning.
By focusing on the intersection of care, accessibility, sustainable development, and affective experiences, this panel will explore how urban design can support the well-being of diverse populations in cities undergoing demographic and environmental transformations. We welcome papers that address (but are not limited by) the following research themes and questions through theoretical and methodological reflections and empirical case studies.
-Affective Experiences and Well-Being in Urban Spaces: How do the everyday lived experiences of built environments influence mental and physical well-being, particularly among vulnerable groups like the elderly, children, and caregivers whose needs are often overlooked in urban planning? What role do material and sensory design elements (e.g., soundscapes, greenery) in urban spaces play in shaping affective experiences for positive well-being?
-Public Space Accessibility and Care Responsibilities: How are European public spaces being adapted to accommodate the needs of an ageing population and those who provide care? What urban design interventions ensure that spaces are easily accessible, safe, and facilitate the mobility of caregivers and -receivers? Which new approaches to urban planning and design can support both individual autonomy and collective care?
-Urban Design for Mental and Physical Health: How can urban planning and design directly contribute to the overall mental and physical health of inhabitants? What role do aesthetic experiences, such as the presence of architectural heritage sites play in fostering healthier urban environments? How can the design of public spaces provide relief from urban stressors, encouraging restorative experiences that promote both physical activity and mental well-being?
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Building Child-Friendly Cities: Lessons from the International Child-Friendly Cities Initiative and its implementation in Europe
Sara Mellinato
Sapienza Università di Roma, Italy
The UNICEF international Child-Friendly Cities (CFC) initiative offers a transformative framework for designing urban environments that prioritize the rights, needs, and well-being of children. As European cities face growing demographic shifts and environmental pressures, integrating child-centered principles into urban planning is vital to fostering inclusive, safe, and sustainable urban spaces. This paper examines how the CFC initiative’s approach can be leveraged to meet SDGs 3 (Good Health and Well-Being) and 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), ensuring that urban environments support the mental and physical well-being of children as a vulnerable yet critical population group.
The contribution will explore three interconnected themes through the lens of the CFC initiative. First, it will investigate how children’s everyday experiences in urban spaces are shaped by sensory and material design elements, such as green spaces, accessible play areas, and safe transit routes, which contribute to their mental and physical health. Second, it will examine the role of public spaces in promoting accessibility and care, highlighting best practices from cities implementing the CFC framework to enhance mobility, safety, and inclusion for children and their caregivers. Third, the research will evaluate participatory urban planning models promoted by the CFC initiative, where children are empowered as active stakeholders, contributing to the design of urban environments that address their needs and aspirations.
Drawing on case studies from European cities that have implemented the CFC initiative, this research will identify actionable strategies to create urban environments that are not only inclusive but also resilient and adaptive to the challenges posed by demographic and environmental transformations. The contribution is intended to advocate for a shift toward care-oriented, child-centered urban planning that aligns with global sustainability goals while fostering environments where children can thrive.
Urban Spaces of Caring Communities and new Urban Cultures of Care in Austria, Hungary, and the Netherlands
Dóra Gábriel1, Valentin Fröhlich2, Florian Pimminger2
1HUN-REN Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Hungary; 2Johannes Kepler University, Linz
Demographic aging and increasing care needs are becoming some of the most pressing challenges for urban life. Social infrastructures are thereby decisively influencing the possibilities of senior people to participate in society and maintain social connections as well as the organisation of care in urban environments. According to Latham & Layton (2019:3) social infrastructures comprise „networks of spaces, facilities, institutions, and groups that create affordances for social connection”. Social infrastructures are, thus, powerful parts of urban life, defining the operation of the city also with regards to well-being, inclusiveness, autonomy, accessibility and mobility for vulnerable social groups like senior people in need of care or carers. With the aim to better meet the often-neglected needs of these groups, in many European cities, not only recently so-called caring communities and local initiatives have been established to focus on more integrated approaches to age(eing), care, health promotion, and social inclusion. The paper takes this as a starting point for an analysis of the interrelation of care and space based on qualitative case studies of urban caring communities in Austria, Hungary, and the Netherlands. Drawing on the concept of social infrastructure, we ask the following questions: 1) How do urban spaces influence the provision of senior care in communities; 2) How do communities (re-)appropriate urban spaces; and 3) How do caring communities implement “(new) urban cultures of care” by connecting care and space? By analysing different care regimes, we will first examine specific characteristics of the socio-spatial embedding of caring communities in urban regions of the three countries. Building on ethnographic observations, document analysis and semi-structured interviews, which were analysed using qualitative content analysis, in a second step the concrete organisation of three caring communities (one in each country) will be clarified. This demonstrates their spatial dimension, the implementation of various types of local care relations, and the constructed connection of space and care. Thereby, the practices of caring communities potentially aim to redefine concepts of (private/public) space and care provisioning. In a last step we, thus, examine the transformative potentials of caring communities in changing the everyday practices of space.
Psychiatric Care in the City – Human Scale and Social Condensers
Manuel Singer
Vienna University of Technology, Austria
In recent years, various forms of assisted living for people affected by mental disorders has risen exponentially in Vienna. Today several hundred apartments are offered for a large and continuously increasing number of people in need and are organized and run by multiple social organizations and charities. These forms of living are available as single room apartments or single room occupation in flat share and are inhabited by people who are not able to live independently and require different levels of specialized care. They are not in need of hospitalization and maintain a certain level of self-sufficient living, i.e. are employed in the tertiary labor market, make use of the city’s leisure amenities and are able to go about some of their daily errands.
Although these forms of accommodation and levels of self-sufficient living vary as greatly as the kind of care needed and provided, all apartments have a lack of regard to their immediate urban surroundings in common. Sidewalks, squares or parks do exist in proximity to the apartments offered yet are not considered in their potential of fostering social inclusion. Access to public spaces and accessing apartments through public space is given attention in terms of universal design measures yet not for the specific needs of people living there. Dwellings rented for assisted living are chosen for affordability and proximity to public transport yet not because a certain quality of urban space exists. In short, what is not considered is the quality of living outside one’s own walls.
This paper seeks to address this problem by looking at three case studies in Vienna. It examines, firstly, the ways in which three particular places of assisted living for people with mental disorders are currently embedded in their urban surroundings both spatially and socially; and, secondly, how these urban spaces may be improved materially in order to foster social inclusion. It specifically explores urban design measures focusing on the concept of ‘human scale’ and daily infrastructures working as ‘social condensers’.
What Do Children Need? The Role of Informal Open Spaces in Planning Practices to foster Children's Well-Being in Suburbia
Tilmann Teske, Sarah Friedel, Angela Million
Technical University Berlin, Germany
In Germany, societal discourse recognizes children, yet their needs and roles in open spaces are framed by adult planners and designers. In the face of urban densification, housing expansion and complex economic and political pressures influencing urban planning, these professionals are assigned with balancing diverse requirements when designing public spaces. As a result, planning practices tend to prioritize formalized children-dedicated spaces and addressing children’s needs primarily through quantitative guidelines (e.g. ratios of playgrounds to population size). However, such formal spaces often fail to reflect the lived experiences and developmental needs of children. Our research examines the contrast between formalized open spaces (e.g. playgrounds) and informal, unplanned spaces, with a particular focus on how children's need for unstructured environments is addressed within urban planning practices.
Academic studies and observations of children’s behavior in outdoor spaces reveal that, in addition to formal play areas, informal and unstructured open spaces are essential for children’s well-being. These spaces foster personal development, freedom of movement and creativity. However, places where children can dig, climb, or explore freely are becoming increasingly rare and difficult to incorporate into formal planning, as they depend on spontaneity and unpredictability. At the same time, children’s digital activities are increasingly significant in their spatial practices, either complementing or competing with the use of physical spaces.
This study investigates how urban planning addresses children's need for informal, unstructured open spaces, focusing on the gap between planner’s visions, legal requirements they must meet, and actual experiences of children. Specifically, it explores how planners balance competing demands such as land consumption with the necessity of spaces that support children's free play, creativity, and individual development. By examining both the perspective of planners (through biographical interviews) and children (through field observations, spatial mapping and analysis of documents), the study uses qualitative methods, to provide a comprehensive understanding of the dynamics involved in designing open spaces in suburban Germany.
The study contributes to the broader discussion of this session on how urban planning can more effectively accommodate the needs of vulnerable groups, such as children, in public spaces, while promoting their mental and physical well-being within the framework of independent and self-determined practices.
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