Land Use Policy (2023), 131, 106705: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2023.106705 *Corresponding Author: irabubakar@iau.edu.sa Dynamics of negotiated use of public open spaces between children and adults in an African city Aliyu Salisu Barau 1 , Ismaila Rimi Abubakar 2 *, Kamil Muhammad Kafi 1 , Kemi Hamdat Olugbodi 1 , Jibrin Ibrahim Abubakar 1 1 Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Bayero University Kano, Nigeria. 2 College of Architecture and Planning, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (Formerly, University of Dammam), P.O. Box 1982, Dammam, 31441, Saudi Arabia. Abstract The sustainable development goal (SDG) 11 emphasizes the role of public open space (POS) in creating inclusive and liveable cities. The present study coupled concepts of right to the city, inclusion, and negotiation to illustrate how inner-city children and adults establish a harmonized consumption of a district POS. The study examines how different age groups can achieve a consensus-based consumption of a vulnerable, small, and intensively used POS in Kano City, Nigeria. Data were collected using 358 self-administered questionnaires and field observation and analyzed using thematic content analysis, a multifunctional matrix, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) to illustrate the negotiated uses of the POS. The study found that children and adults in this densely populated city depend on the POS covering only 0.5 ha for recreational, religious, and informal commercial activities. Users reach a consensus regarding sharing and separation of uses in a zero-conflict and lively atmosphere, underscoring the multifunctionality of this small POS. This study contributes to our understanding of the values of POS as a platform for fostering social coexistence, multiculturalism, tolerance, sharing, and collaborative consumption of scarce resources in cities. The study can assist municipalities in developing inclusive strategies for implementing SDG 11 to create more sustainable cities and communities. Keywords: Conflict and consensus; Inclusive development; Public open spaces; Kano City; Sharing and negotiation; Sustainable urbanization 1. Introduction Public open spaces (POSs) provide locations and avenues for a wide range of socioeconomic activities, and they have become a recurrent theme in urban resilience and sustainable urbanization discourse. Recently, urban researchers and stakeholders are increasingly focusing on the imperative of inclusion and engagement of citizens in the design, access, and governance of POSs (Koohsari et al., 2015; Šuklje Erjavec and Ruchinskaya, 2019). Consensus, pluralism, and inclusion can help resolve the real and perceived conflicts in accessing and using POSs (Ahirrao and Khan, 2022; Mlicka, 2017; Jian et al., 2020). The issue of inequalities in access to urban spaces are more reported nowadays, with marginalized groups such as women, children, and ethnic minorities resisting segregation and asserting themselves more in public spaces, which often results in conflicts (Garau and Annunziata, 2022; Pedrosa et al., 2021; Rigg et al., 2019; Timperio et al., 2007). Therefore, it is worthwhile to understand how various demographic and socioeconomic groups using POSs organize themselves to avoid conflicts through negotiated access and innovative sharing of services andamenities (De Hass et al., 2021; Kamalipour and Peimani, 2019; Mlicka, 2017; Rishbeth, 2001). In developing countries, accessibility, inclusion, and spatial justice are hardly entrenched in POS provision and governance. For example, in Kathmandu (Nepal), the "provision of public space remains poor in terms of physical features, and thus, does not support community activities and needs" (Chitrakar et al., 2016, p. 30). Similarly, “the notion of social equity and equal rights to the city has not been addressed comprehensively in the use of public open space”in China (Wang et al., 2022, p. 1). In Kolkata (India), females are coerced to negotiate instead of asserting their rights to POSs because of harassment and overcrowding (Roy and Bailey, 2021). In Africa, where urbanization and informality go hand in hand and patriarchy is widespread, access and use of POSs by children, women, and the elderly is challenging (Dalu et al., 2020; Pedrosa et al., 2021; Shackleton and Blair, 2013). However, POS governance can benefit from indigenous culture and informal institutions, strengthening community bonds and societal cohesion to foster negotiated sharing of activities and amenities (Zamanifard et al., 2018). Similarly, many researchers have recognized the importance of largescale and planned POSs in improving pluralism and community cohe-sion (Chen et al., 2016) but largely ignore the role of small ones, especially within the context of traditional and informal African settings and rapid urbanization (Chitrakar et al., 2016). It is also important to appreciate both the tangible and intangible values of POSs and the sense of place from various users' perspectives (Askari and Soltani, 2019). Therefore, the present study aims to explore how children and adults achieved a negotiated sharing of a small and intensively used POS in Kano city, Nigeria. Its objectives are to (a) explore the multifunctionality of the POS, serving both inner-city children and adults in a densely populated city, (b) illustrate inclusive POS consumption via sharing and separation of activities in constrained space and time, and (c) analyze how different age groups establish a zero-conflict and harmonized interaction through consensus and negotiation. No previous study was undertaken with the set objectives within a similar context in developing countries. Negotiated planning, premised on persistent power plays, contests, and compromises among stakeholders, could be an alternative to what is perceived as a catalog of