Children’s Friendship with Place: A Conceptual Inquiry

Abstract

This paper explores the conceptual possibilities of place friendship, and posits it as a valid form of place relationship that is different from the more widely accepted place relationship concepts typically considered under the broader construct of sense of place. After reviewing the literature on friendship, a framework for envisioning child-friendly places based on six essential conditions of friendship is proposed: mutual affection and personal regard; shared interests and activities; commitment; loyalty; self-disclosure and mutual understanding; and horizontality. These concepts, when translated into environmental terms with the help of literature from the fields of environment-behavior, environmental psychology and children’s geography, help to define a child-friendly place from a socio-physical perspective. This definition is in contrast to the broad, rhetorical, rights-based goals of health, education, safety, etc. that currently underpin the UN vision of the child-friendly city. This paper proposes that research needs to investigate the functional and phenomenological possibilities of places that children consider to be their friends in order for child-friendly cities to have any real meaning for children.