1 Mapping children’s places and activities: Analysis of the local area around a primary school Stephen Marshall, Kei Kitazawa, James Paskins and Yi Gong 1. Introduction Children’s needs cut across a variety of topical concerns of national government, local authorities and the wider public: the provision of education; the congestion of the ‘school run’; obesity and exercise; and social problems associated with ‘youths on the street’ on the one hand, and ‘stranger danger’ on the other. The planning and design of the built environment can play a role in addressing these concerns to some extent, in supplying places that encourage outdoor play, exercise, walking as a means of transport, sociable (as opposed to anti-social) spaces, and even assisting with the psychological development of the children themselves. Successful design of the built environment requires appreciation of the users for whom it is to be designed. This includes appreciation of the user’s physical characteristics and capabilities (size, weight, speed, range and so on); the user’s motivations and aversions; and usually an appreciation of how users actually behave, in terms of where they typically go, when, and what they do there. A successful built environment is difficult to achieve if not much is known about the users for whom it is to be designed – or if some users are not considered in the first place. When it comes to children, there are potentially gaps in provision. For example: • There are ‘in-between places’ – the environment around and between the dedicated facilities (such as schools or play areas) 1 : the general urban environment of tarmac, car parks, verges, landscaped areas, and so on. How these are designed and configured could have a significant impact on children’s activity. • There are ‘in-between activities’ connected with children ‘roaming around’ and ‘hanging around’ that are neither directly identified with ‘travel purpose’ (journey to/from school) nor ‘destination activity’ (e.g. education, sports, formal play, etc). 1 Town planning has often specifically provided for children. This is seen in the provision of dedicated spaces and places for children, such as play areas, ‘tot lots’, recreation areas and informal open spaces. With respect to wider urban layout, there has a long tradition in town planning of designing settlements around neighbourhood units that are themselves based around the catchment areas for the local primary school.