Investigating the security challenges of children in public spaces of low-income neighborhoodsCase Study: Al-Teimur neighborhood, Mashhad

Nowadays, public spaces, especially in underprivileged neighborhoods, do not adequately meet children’s needs. One of the most important problems of these neighborhoods is the insecurity in public spaces, which intensifies social and economic issues, and in fact, it could be called an obstacle to the growth and development of children living in underprivileged neighborhoods. The present study, while aiming at enhancing the security of public spaces from the children’s perspective, has investigated the challenges of their security in public spaces in underprivileged neighborhoods.

The research method of the article is of qualitative type and based on participation with children. Ten to twelve year-old girls are considered as the target group, and interview and drawing methods were considered as research tools proportionate to the target group. Elteimur neighborhood in Mashhad was chosen as a case study due to the residence of low-income class people and the existence of security issues. Finally, the findings have been achieved through the analysis of maps of the neighborhood and the analysis of the content of the text of the interviews and the coding of the resulting data.

Data analysis has led to the identification of routes in the neighborhood where children frequently pass by, the location of unsafe places from their point of view, and the getting to know factors that cause the insecurity feeling among children in every single unsafe place. The results of the research indicate that the coexistence of worrying people and worrying judicial factors in the environment along with the mental backgrounds transferred from the family, media and personal experiences which all have caused various types of fear of insecurity among children in Elteimur neighborhood, Mashhad.