Assessment of behaviour and attachment of children to public space usage in Nigeria

Abstract

Every child in a city has connection with their environment and its public space. The space influences children ’ s behaviour, knowledge, attitudes and cognition. Incontrovertibly, informal learning takes place in the public space in cities of Nigeria. The study explores behaviour and attachment of children to traditional public space in Ilorin city of north-central in Nigeria. Data were collected through a survey with 500 children age 6 to 12 who were actively utilising traditional public spaces in Ilorin. The instrument that was used to measure the influence of traditional public space on children's well-being had 12 items, and was highly reliable with Cronbach ’ s alpha of 0.88. This implies that the instrument was reliable. Data were descriptively analysed using percentage, frequency, mean, standard deviation, bar charts. Results showed that children had strong attachment to their traditional public spaces, and this sense of attachment influenced their behaviour in traditional public space. Though, some of the traditional public spaces are unkempt, unhygienic and inhospitable to children utilising them. Therefore, the policy makers and profession should develop and revitalise traditional public spaces in Ilorin city so that children can fully benefit from its environment.