Exploring Interactions Between After-School Space and Behaviors of Primary and Secondary School Students for Creating Child-Friendly Spaces in Blocks: A Case Study of Wanliu and Dashilar Blocks of Beijing

In view of the tensions between the walking needs of school children and deficient space surrounding schools in megacities, this research applies GPS tracking and field observation methods to examine the spatial distribution of after-school behaviors of primary and secondary school children, including their general passing, playing, social, staying alone and shopping behaviors, in Wanliu and Dashilar, two representative blocks in Beijing. By sorting out the after-school path and node space types, it analyzes the correlations between after-school behaviors and the space, and finds that the playing behaviors are more likely to take place in safe, visible, interesting old streets and intersections with pleasant scales, and spacious, safe, affordable small squares and bus stations. Despite the ambiguous spatial preference, the social behaviors after school occur frequently and spread widely. This comprehensive and detailed comparative case study, as a supplement to the study on after-school “space-behavior” interactions, contributes to proposing child-friendly renewal strategies for new and old blocks in Beijing: planning after-school routes for children and ensuring traffic safety in new blocks in particular; renovating various nodes with security and affordability considerations to increase the chances of after-school playing and social behaviors.