Does the Physical Environment of an Urban Neighborhood Affect the Social Well-Being of Children? A Pilot Study in Nagpur, India

This paper investigates the influence of urban neighbourhood environments on the social well-being of Indian children, focusing on the social development domains. It seeks to understand the relationship between children's social connectedness (SC) and the outdoor physical environment (OPE) during middle childhood. Methodology: The conceptual framework of this pilot study was based on Bronfenbrenner's Person-Proximal Process- Context model of human development. The proximal process was operationalized as children's outdoor out-of-school physical activities (OOPA) as a means of interaction with the physical and social environment. Adopting the cross-sectional quantitative method approach investigation was conducted in three neighborhoods. The study included subjective measures collected through in-person surveys (N=70) of 8-12-year-old children and objective measures computed using GIS. A strong correlation was found between children's daily duration of OOPA and SC, validating the PPC model's proposition of proximal process. SC and its linked dimensions show the significant influence of objective variables like building density, street connectivity, traffic exposure, quality of recreation spaces in the neighbourhood and subjective perceptions like personal safety and neighbourhood physical activity environment. Children's gender, motivation for outdoor physical activities and license for independent mobility were also found to influence social connectedness. The study confirms that OOPA is the profound connector between the OPE and their social development as it facilitates children's interaction with the outdoor physical and social environment. Children's SC and its linked dimensions were directly associated with objective OPE and perceived characteristics of the neighbourhood. The study also shows a significant association between active and independent mobility and children's SC. Considering well-researched evidence of linkages between the built environment and children's active and independent mobility, this study suggests the additional indirect influence of OPE on children's SC through their travel behaviors.