ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that serious restrictions of exploration deny a child the ability to develop into a competent, happy individual and is to be avoided at all costs. Social science can aid design professions by helping to identify the forces which restrict access and by helping children and parents define those environmental qualities which they deem important. Some children are trapped inside their own homes and their immediate environs due to serious physical, social and psychological forces, to the extent that their situation represents a serious social injustice. The United States Forest Service contracted the authors to investigate children's access to, and use of, vegetated spaces in New York City. The diagram emphasizes that consideration of a child's environmental exploration also necessitates thinking of the child as part of an interactive system made up of child and 'caretaker’. Connected to the important issue of maximizing children's free access to the environment is another major issue for children's environmental planning.
