Child Friendly Cities: Research with Children in Astana: Final Astana Report 2015

Astana is the political capital and is the home of the President of Kazakhstan. Built in the north after independence the city Overall children living in Astana were the most satisfied with the quality of their lives. Living very western contemporary lifestyles, children in the city even in the poorer neighbourhoods still have the capacity to utilise what the whole city offers children. While in small pockets there is still some concerns over the quality of the roads, apartment car parks and playgrounds, on the whole children’s had options. There is evidence of apartment blocks where the entire internal courtyards had been taken over by cars therefore leaving no space for children to play; because the immediate city has been designed with many open green spaces most children would have a park they can be taken to by parents. Unfortunately this does mean for day-to-day play opportunities with peers in the apartment blocks it may mean playing inside the complex or inside their apartments. This can cause conflict with family members or other apartment block residents. Children especially living in crowded apartment blocks particularly on busy main roads have little access to natural environments unless they are taken outside of the city by parents. These children are more likely to experience the one-off family park event rather than daily peer play opportunities and are more likely to experience the impacts of a lack of exposure to the health benefits of the natural environment. Children were also more likely to feel unsafe or exposed to dangers of gang violence and stranger danger then children from the smaller more regional cities. Parents of the children were also more likely to feel concerned about their child’s likelihood of being abducted or exposed to strangers. This is not usual considering trends in other larger cities around the world where CIM research has been conducted. The larger a city, the higher the population and the less likely you are to know your neighbourhoods or even recognise others as either locals or strangers. This uncertainty can build a sense of insecurity and can cause parents to regulate and prohibit children’s freedom to move around independently. While this maybe in the best interest of the child it can cause other health related issues, especially when the size of apartments on the whole are quite small due to the expense. Children were very proud of their city and included many photographs and drawings of significant monuments such as Baitreck and commercial buildings such as the Khan Shatyr. The children took many photographs and discussed their busy city lives with engaging in structured sport and leisure activities; using commercial facilities and shopping as central to this. This may be seen as a positive in many cases but evidence from around the world has shown that busy lives focused on very commercial activities can take time away from the opportunities to have free play and experiences in the outdoors, which has shown to increase physical, mental and emotional health related issues such as ADHD, obesity, anxiety, depression. Whether walking to school via main roads or being driven to school by car many children worried about the impacts of traffic on air quality and also the hazards associated with busy drop off zones at schools or bust intersections. This issue is found around the world in many busy cities and needs to be addressed, many cities have developed strategic plans on how to support walking to school programs and how to create traffic calming near schools. In a larger city with a bigger population children can feel that they have less opportunity to be listened to or to access city officials. Children from Astana revealed in the surveys they felt mostly they did not have an opportunity to put forward their opinion on issues related to their life.