Aims: All psychologists of child development believe that the main core of developmental theories is interaction of an individual with the environment. Based on the empirical studies of children’s outdoor activities, the environment affects the child behavior; so that by changing the environment, the child behavior will change. Today, the population growth of cities on the one hand, and rising land prices on the other, has created overcrowded residential environments. Living in such environments has had a negative impact on the individual and social health of residents. Children, as the most vulnerable group of society, are at greater risk of being exposed to changes in physical and social environments than other groups. So, in the present study, designing the residential complex neighborhood as a childlike environment and responsive to the kids play needs and consequently affecting their social development has the great importance. Research literature has shown that the Environmental affordance to motivate kids to play is associated with increasing sensory stimulation and social interactions. Therefore, it is possible to determine the design principles of the residential complex neighborhood in such a way that by increasing the kid’s sensory stimulations and social interaction, his or her motivation to play can be increased. This paper focused on fostering children's play within the in-between spaces of residential complexes; it objected to explain the relevant design principles by examining the nature of the interaction between children and their residential environment. Based on the existing literature, the study posits that physical-functional and cognitive-perceptual factors (by creating affordances such as versatility, supervisability, vitality, legibility, and coherence) can generate and enhance the motivation for children to engage in play within these spaces. Measuring children's attitude is a good way to examine children’s views and how they behave in residential complex neighborhood. By the help of a user-centered approach, the present article intended to explain the design principles of the residential complex neighborhood for kids’ motivation to play.
Materials & Methods: To achieve this goal, first in the research studies and subject explanation, logical argumentation research method was used to formulate the research hypothesis. Hypothesis testing was conducted using survey based on Delphi method. In the following, based on the relationship between the variables, a hypothetical model was proposed and the design principles were extracted. In the last step, these design principles were transformed into comprehensible images for kids (3 to 6 years old), and then put to the test of them living in mid-rise and medium-sized residential complex of Isfahan (Moshtagh and Olive). Indeed in this study, the perspectives of experts were first examined using an adult-centered approach; subsequently, to validate the findings, a child-centered approach was employed to incorporate children's input regarding the experts' views.
Findings: In this survey, the majority of the kids expressed their interest with great enthusiasm and excitement towards these changes. In the following, some of the limitations aroused were stated and their motivation to present and play in the residential complex neighborhood were retested. Despite the concerns, at the end of the test, their motivations were still above 90%. Therefore, it can be concluded that this test emphasized the validity of the research results.
Conclusion:. The research results showed that children tend to the physical environment in order to satisfy the play need as a factor of intrinsic motivation. On the other hand, the physical environmental stimuli, as a factor of extrinsic motivation, have an important role in kids‟ motivation to free play. Regarding the theory of affordances (1979), the final result is creating environmental affordances called environmental affordances to motivate kids to play. Finally, the design principles were: playfulness of natural stimulus elements; combination of natural and man-made elements; designing legible spaces; designing controllable spaces (direct-indirect); designing spaces with diverse environmental affordances; and designing interactive spaces.Based on the current research, these design strategies were suggested: combination and continuity of the middle area and private area; designing transparent and flexible walls in the vicinity of the middle area; designing diverse spaces in order to create opportunities for children to play with their peers, parents, as well as parents with each other; designing furniture next to the children's play area; designing spaces for all kinds of dramatic, symbolic, cooperative, group and physical games according to their age; designing some spaces for learning and direct environmental experience in the middle area; designing play spaces composed of lawn or winding corridors with plants and play equipment; and also designing tree houses, wooden swings and slides; designing ponds for children to play with water, sand and sawdust; designing pots for planting and maintaining plants; designing some spaces for keeping and raising birds, aquatic animals and pets. Accordingly, the primary achievement of this research is the articulation of design principles for the residential complex neighborhood for improving kids’ motivation to play, with an emphasis on enhancing the environment's play-inducing potential and, consequently, creating a more favorable setting for the emergence and continuity of kid's play activities.