REVIEW OF OVERSEA STUDIES ON CHILDREN'S INDEPENDENT MOBILITY AND IMPLICATIONS

MENG Xue; LI Ling-ling; FU Ben-chen

doi:10.13959/j.issn.1003-2398.2019.04.003

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HUMAN GEOGRAPHY ›› 2019, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (4) : 20-31,88. DOI: 10.13959/j.issn.1003-2398.2019.04.003

REVIEW OF OVERSEA STUDIES ON CHILDREN'S INDEPENDENT MOBILITY AND IMPLICATIONS

MENG Xue^1,2, LI Ling-ling^1,2, FU Ben-chen^1,2

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Abstract

Children's independent mobility is a crucial indicator to measure children's capacity of mobility. Numerous studies have confirmed that children's independent mobility might have positive impacts on physical activity promotion, obesity prevention, social interaction, etc. It is critical for children's healthy development and grown up. Furthermore, in the community and social level, some other positive outcomes of higher children's independent mobility would also be obtained, including easing traffic pressure, ecological and environmental benefits as well as social sustainability. However, recent studies have shown that children's independent mobility has been declining tremendously for decades. Thus researchers abroad have paid great attention to children's independent mobility and made efforts to do in-depth studies on the influencing factors and children's independent mobility promotion interventions. This study aims to summarize the oversea studies on children's independent mobility and then provide references for future studies and practices in China. Firstly, the concept and distinctiveness of children's independent mobility were identified. Secondly, the influencing factors and their impacts in theoretical and empirical research were summarized. The conceptual models of the factors influencing children's independent mobility were introduced and the influencing factors in empirical research, including built environment, social environment, family environment and children themselves, and their effects were outlined and discussed. Thirdly, the measures of children's independent mobility were summed up and analyzed. In addition, potential applications and some interventions for children's independent mobility promotion were illustrated.

Key words

children's independent mobility / active travel / school travel / child-friendly environment

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MENG Xue, LI Ling-ling, FU Ben-chen. REVIEW OF OVERSEA STUDIES ON CHILDREN'S INDEPENDENT MOBILITY AND IMPLICATIONS[J]. HUMAN GEOGRAPHY. 2019, 34(4): 20-31,88 https://doi.org/10.13959/j.issn.1003-2398.2019.04.003

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