Martin Johnston: CBD children 'at risk of stunted development'

Children's development may be put at risk by being crammed into cheap, central Auckland apartments, a public health researcher says.

City planners aiming for more urban intensification must start taking into account the needs of children, such as by providing adequate play areas, Massey University Associate Professor Karen Witten told a Public Health Association conference in Dunedin.

Professor Witten showed her audience examples of the cramped, poor-quality housing built in Auckland's rush to encourage inner-city living before authorities demanded better standards and more living space.

She said the 16,000 apartment units built between 1991 and 2007 were intended for students and couples without children,

"They are often very small, very cheaply built and poorly designed. They weren't built for families, but families have moved in."

Nearly 3000 under-15s lived in the inner-city, after several years of growth that had far outstripped the population growth in that age group across Auckland City.

Almost half of the families living in the CBD were one-parent households.

Professor Witten, who interviewed 11 Auckland CBD apartment parents and a number of children for the pilot study last year, said families were attracted by the relatively low rents - $300 to $350 a week for a unit of one or two bedrooms - as well as the financial savings and reduced commuting.

But the drawbacks to apartment living included a lack of facilities and space for children, and fears for their safety, including the risk of youngsters falling from the units' tiny balconies.

Despite the cramped conditions indoors, none of the parents Professor Witten spoke to allowed their children to go on to the balcony.

Some apartment blocks had a gym or exercise space, but children couldn't use them. Only one family had access to a small courtyard within their apartment complex that the children could play in.

One child had only an apartment block hallway in which to play, and several families had had to move to a different apartment block because of complaints about the noise made by their children.

Parents' fears about the dangers of inner-city streets - such as heavy traffic and the presence of drunks - "constrain their children's mobility", Professor Witten said.

"They weren't able to walk from home. There wasn't a walking school bus.

"A lack of indoor and outdoor play space has implications for children's levels of physical activity and for the opportunities they have for independent mobility, which is also critical for cognitive and social development.

"Reclaiming the city as a child-friendly space is a site for public health action."

Inner-city families saw a solution to the problems: "All but one parent said they would like a house with a garden one day."

INNER-CITY KIDS
* 16,000 apartments built in central Auckland between 1991 and 2007.
* Nearly 3000 under-15s live in CBD.
* CBD child population grew 12 per cent a year between 2001 and 2006 Censuses.
* Number grew 1 per cent across Auckland.