Les enfants ont leur propre point de vue sur les environnements architecturaux et urbains dans lesquels ils vivent. Leur point de vue est intéressant et important à connaitre car différent de celui des adultes. Néanmoins, l’enfant et son environnement sont rarement au centre des théories influençant ou développant la notion de « child-friendliness » environnementale, développée par M. Kyttä (Kyttä, 2002, 2003, 2004) dans la continuité de la théorie des affordances (Gibson, 1966, 1979/1986). Cependant, ce n’est qu’en partant de cette position-là qu’une proposition scientifiquement et empiriquement approuvée, mettant à l’épreuve cette notion est possible. En nous intéressant aux environnements quotidiens d’un territoire rural et agricole japonais, prédéfini, sur une base théorique, comme « child-friendly » par excellence, nous testons la façon dont il est vécu par ses petits habitants, et comment il reflète leurs expériences environnementales. Ainsi, à l’école élémentaire d’Ishigure, nous avons enquêté 115 élèves âgés de 7 à 12 ans, qui, sous forme de dessin et en suivant un questionnement précis, nous ont décrit leurs trajets de la maison à l’école, leurs façons de vivre et d’expérimenter les lieux d’activités parascolaires, ainsi que les bâtiments de la maison et de l’école. En engageant la perception (tant la nôtre, au cours de la phase de l’étude du terrain existant, que celle des enfants) et la représentation, à travers les interprétations et les analyses de dessins (environ 700 dessins récoltés), nous arrivons premièrement à comprendre le rapport des élèves aux espaces en question, pour ensuite intervenir sur notre notion de départ. Les résultats directs mettent alors en évidence le rapport entre la « child-friendliness » environnementale et la perception des environnements quotidiens. Ainsi, la thèse approfondit les connaissances sur la construction enfantine de la représentation spatiale dans une zone rurale japonaise, explore les expériences environnementales des enfants y habitant et redéfinit le cadre factoriel du concept de la « child-friendliness » environnementale. / Children see the architectural and urban environments in which they live from their own unique perspectives. It is interesting and important to know their point of view, with respect to how it differs from the perspectives of the adults. A child and its environment is rarely focused upon within the theories influencing the concept of the environmental “child-friendliness”, which was developed by M. Kyttä (Kyttä, 2002, 2003, 2004), and in line with the theory of affordances (Gibson, 1966, 1979/1986). However, it is only from this position that can be made possible the scientifically and empirically approved proposition testing this concept. In our studies, we focused on the lives and lifestyles found within agricultural, Japanese areas. Basing upon existing theories, we predefined it as a “child-friendly” environment and we analyzed the lives of the young inhabitants and how this was reflected in their environmental experiences. To this end, we investigated 115 children in the age between 7 and 12 years in the Ishigure elementary school. Using a form of drawing, which was followed by a detailed questionnaire, we described their journey from home to school, their way of living, and their experiences with extracurricular activities, as well as home and school buildings. Using perception (ours, in the phase of studying existing areas, as well as the one of children) and representation, through the interpretation and analyzes of drawings (approximately 700 drawings collected), we defined the relation of students to the areas we studied and we redefined the concept of the environmental “child-friendliness”. Our results highlight the relationship between the environmental “child-friendliness” and the perception of everyday life environments. This thesis also applies itself to areas of knowledge in the field of children’s construction of spatial representation within the Japanese agricultural areas, and which explores environmental experience of children living there, while redefining the factorial framework of the environmental “child-friendliness” concept.

Importance of seeing and implementing children’s needs in the urban public realm is widely discussed among urban researchers in recent years. It is becoming more challenging, as nowadays there are more than one billion children growing up in cities,which is more than ever before. In this research, I discuss a specific context of a modernist area, Sykhiv, which represents the most widespread type of residential area in Ukraine. The research aims to understand the quality of Sykhiv’s neighborhoods for children and to understand the different perspectives of experts and parents onchild-friendliness in the public realm of Sykhiv. The first research question is dedicatedto parents’ perspectives and children’s spatial practices, the second part is dedicated toexpert views on existing policies, practices, narratives towards child-friendly environment in Sykhiv. The third question represents the synthesis of two previous and reflects on the rethinking of public spaces in Sykhiv in terms of child-friendliness. Three key theories that help to frame this study are: holistic theory on Environmentalchild-friendliness helps to envision a complexity of a phenomenon of child-friendlinessof the environment, critical study on reconceptualizing the playground, which reflects onan extension of the focus of researching a play in the physical environment, andaffordance theory, which bridges the physical environment and human behavior. Theresults showed that Sykhiv has lots of features of a child-friendly environment, noticedboth by experts and parents, however, play infrastructure has numerous disadvantages.The holistic strategy, effective cooperation of all actors (public authorities, civic activists,parents and children, urban planners), awareness and knowledge are lacking in order tocontribute to a child-friendly environment, or at least to prevent negative tendencies tointensity of traffic, shortage of greenery, densening residential areas, etc. Extended safegreen spaces are more likely to perform children’s needs in a public realm, thanplaygrounds that are very frequent but of poor quality in Sykhiv.