highrises harm children

[John Zeger]

Nancy M. Wells in the article "At Home with Nature" published in the journal Environment and Behavior, Vol. 32, No.6, Nov. 2000 wrote "In general, studies of high-rise living have found that children who live in high-rise housing tend to exhibit more behavioral problems, have more restricted play, and have poorer physical health than do those who reside in low-rises or single-family dwellings. These findings have generally been interpreted as evidence that living on higher floors leads to social isolation and restriction of play activities, which in turn results in poor behavior and well-being" (p. 779) Wells also writes in the same article "Although studies of housing quality present a somewhat ambiguous picture of the role of physical or natural surrounding (Blackman et al. 1989; Obasanjo, 1998), research on housing type (i.e., high-rises) is clearer in this regard. This research tells us that high-rise housing is associated with behavioral problems (Gillis, 1974; Ineichen & Hooper, 1974; Richman, 1977; Saegert, 1982), less outdoor play (Churchman & Ginsburg, 1984; BDOE, 1973; Gittus, 1976), and poor physical health (Fanning, 1967; Goodman, 1974) among children.

[Rick Shea]

The report "Social Sustainability in Vancouver" contains the following comments:

Underscoring the importance of designing residential neighbourhoods with a view to parks, school, and other amenities, Evans(2006) reports that:
• Residents of multi-family, compared with single-family homes, controlling for (socio-economic status), report
greater marital and parent-child conflict, and high-rise housing has been associated with less
socially supportive relationships with neighbours.
• Elevated noise levels, typically from transportation, other people, and music, have been
associated with children’s reading problems and intellectual deficiencies, long-term memory
problems, elevated blood pressure, and motivation.
• Households on streets with higher traffic volume interact less with their neighbours relative
to those residing on less congested streets.
• Close proximity to street traffic, in addition to raising the risk of pediatric injuries, is
correlated with restrictions in outdoor play among 5-year-olds, smaller social networks for
these children, and diminished social and motor skills.

Given that, in practice, highrise residential development has always brought more traffic volume, it is clear that harm comes from multiple factors -- more than just the crowding of people together, but resulting from that crowding.

www.cprn.org/en/doc.cfm?doc=1538

[John Zeger]

Leading Australian child experts agree that high-density, highrise living is not child-friendly:

www.abc.net.au/am/content/2006/s1775735.htm

[John Zeger]

Another Australian comments on the cities that are being created by a proliferation of highrises and, in particular, with their impact on children.

www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=5315