According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the UNICEF child-friendly cities initiative, children of any age or ability have the right to use, create, transform and develop their urban environments.

Despite this, the commonly held view is that preschool children lack the competency to reflect on environments beyond their playgrounds or kindergartens. Young, pre-literate children are denied meaningful participation in city design.

But the study conducted by the School of Geography at the University of Otago, New Zealand — the Dunedin preschooler study — shows that we need to include the voices of these intuitive city planners who think holistically about what a city needs to function well and be safe, healthy and fun.

Read the article

See the full study here