ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the urban setting, its character, its form and how it has changed and is continuing to change. It asks what this means for the growing numbers of children whose lives will be lived in these expanding and transforming urban environments. The chapter looks at the changes that are taking place in the built environment and their relationship to green and vegetated spaces. Cities have traditionally not been green. The chapter explores the form of the urban environment that children live in. This form matters as more children are being born into and live their lives in urban areas, which 'account for around 60 per cent of urban growth'. The chapter focuses on the living environments of children and identifies some of the major building changes that have occurred over the last century or so. For the city's ecological and green space values to be realised, natural spaces have to actually be used by children.
