Evaluating the Effectiveness of Environmental Factors on Increasing the Activity of Adolescent Girls and Boys in Urban Spaces (Study Area: Azadi Street of Karaj)

So far, many studies have been carried out on the presence and activity of various age groups in the urban environment, including children, youth and adults. Attention to adolescents as an age group with specific needs has a relatively long history in foreign countries. Its first spells can be attributed to Lynch’s 1977 study. In his study, “Growing Up in Cities”, he studied a small group of adolescents in different cities to discover their use and value to their surroundings, and to understand the importance of urban spaces as vital resources for their growth from adolescence to adulthood. The research inspired further research on adolescents and their local environment. Since the mid-1990s, researchers have shown their interest in more extreme studies on the underlying government policies and strategies that lead to the isolation of adolescents from public spaces through monitoring their movements and neglecting activities such as skateboarding and graffiti. Over the past two decades, the trend of urban planners and designers in adolescent studies has also increased significantly in foreign countries, especially in European ones. On the other hand, it is believed today that dominant approaches and urban laws cause various social, economic, social and sexual discrimination among citizens. On the basis of such discrimination, the majority of public and active spaces of the city are at the disposal of adults while children and adolescents are on the sidelines. In Iran, however, the adolescent group remains largely ignored and most of their needs are not studied as an independent age group. In the present study, therefore, we try to focus on the activity of adolescents – as one of the groups not covered in our urban studies – in their favorite urban spaces. It is because this age group, on one hand, is considered a potentially very important part of the users of urban spaces, and, on the other hand, adolescents require to be present in urban spaces, experience a variety of social roles, and test their abilities in this context in order to grow as a person with a social identity. In line with this, Azadi Street, center of RajaeiShahr district, was selected as the case study, and 250 adolescents from 12 to 19 years old were chosen to be investigated through a questionnaire involving items about their activities and their level of satisfaction with environmental quality of the streets. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics (independent t-test and multivariate regression). The analysis indicates that 11% and 74% of the teens go to the streets on a daily and weekly basis, respectively, often in the evening, along with their friends for window shopping, sitting at the parks, and watching other people. The highest to the lowest satisfaction level of adolescents with the components of environmental qualities of the street is related to security, accessibility, attractiveness, convenience, and comfort. With the exception of attractiveness, significant differences were found between boys and girls in terms of their satisfaction with the quality of environmental components. The results of the regression model also showed that 43% of boys’ and 75% of girls’ activity can be predicted by the components of environmental quality. Attractiveness and comfort are more important for boys and attractiveness, safety, convenience and comfort are considerably important and effective for girls.