ABSTRACT
In the Nordic countries children have high levels of independent mobility due to the merits of earlier planning regimes. This chapter describes the strategies for child friendly urban planning in two Swedish cities – Stockholm and Malmo. It highlights the adoption of an inclusive strategy in which children's perspectives inspire urban planning. Children's perspectives on the environment do contain some universal characteristics due to their preferences for what is sensuous and what affords activity, but their perspectives also depend on the specific circumstances of their local community. Generally, children in the Nordic countries still benefit from the child friendly urban planning that prevailed for several decades during the twentieth century, but to a varying degree depending on the extent of population growth. The benefits of nature in housing areas have been the subject of several studies over the decades. Pia Bjorklid showed that playgrounds were important places for children meeting and forming a community with peers.
