Smart City Governance and Children’s Rights: Perspectives and Findings from Literature on Natural Elements Influencing Children’s Activities Within Public Spaces

This paper shows a comprehensive literature review based on a comparative method that investigates a set of 25 papers from different disciplinary fields. The articles are retrieved from the Web of Science and SCOPUS databases and individuated through queries containing the key terms child, play, city, neighbourhood, outdoor space, public space, urban space, mobility. The timeframe considered spans from 2004 to present. The analysis focuses on three related aspects: (i) methodology; (ii) conceptual apparatus describing children’s experience of spaces; (iii) green spaces and natural elements incorporated in public space design considered as determinant of children’s outdoor activities. This paper provides detailed information on the relationship between the availability of natural settings and elements and children’s outdoor practices and activities. Retrieving from previous studies the concept of practicability the authors reflect on significance of natural elements in reinforcing the potential of the built environment to promote children’s independent playful practices. This study is instrumental in structuring an analytic methodology for determining a synthetic index of the practicability of public spaces. The relevance of a methodology for assessing practicability relies on its potential to enable a better understanding of conditions conducive to children’s independent playful practices and to support governance by assisting the implementation of strategies of urban regeneration within the smart city paradigm.