More-Than-Human: A Cross-Sectional Study Exploring Children's Perceptions of Health and Health-Promoting Neighbourhoods in Aotearoa New Zealand

A disconnect between children's ideas and their incorporation into environmental design, in the context of rapid urbanisation and climate crises, compelled us to reflect on children's meaningful participation in positive environmental change. Our research aimed to bring new knowledge to th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of environmental research and public health 2022-12, Vol.19 (24), p.16968
Main Authors: Williams, Tiffany, Ward, Kim, Egli, Victoria, Mandic, Sandra, Pocock, Tessa, Clark, Terryann C, Smith, Melody
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Child
Children
Children & youth
Cities
Cross-Sectional Studies
Data collection
Environmental changes
Environmental engineering
Exercise
Health promotion
Human relations
Humans
Neighborhoods
New Zealand
Participation
Research methodology
Schools
Sports
Sustainable design
Urban environments
Urbanization
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Summary:A disconnect between children's ideas and their incorporation into environmental design, in the context of rapid urbanisation and climate crises, compelled us to reflect on children's meaningful participation in positive environmental change. Our research aimed to bring new knowledge to the fore using a participatory, child-centred approach to understanding children's perceptions of health and health-promoting neighbourhoods in Aotearoa New Zealand. The cross-sectional Neighbourhoods and Health study was conducted with 93 primary school-aged children (approximate ages 8 to 10 years) from two schools in Ōtepoti Dunedin and two schools in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland from June 2020 to August 2021. We present a framework of twelve child-centred topics of importance for health ( , , and ), health-promoting neighbourhoods ( , , , and ), and those common to both ( , , , , and ). The more-than-human theory was used to situate our study findings, and we explored three threads evident in children's thinking: (1) care for humans and non-humans, (2) vital interdependence of human-non-human relations, and (3) understanding complex urban environments through everyday activities. We conclude that the thriving of humans and non-humans in urban environments is important to children in Aotearoa New Zealand. We affirm that children have clear and salient ideas about health and health-promoting neighbourhoods.
ISSN:1660-4601
1661-7827
1660-4601
DOI:10.3390/ijerph192416968