Claire Freeman
Biographic Data
| ID | 3600438 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Claire Freeman |
| GIVEN NAMES | Claire |
| FAMILY NAME | Freeman |
| SIGNATURE | FREEMAN C |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Otago |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4287-2435 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 51 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 121 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 49 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1974 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Overcoming the “fear of density”
The pressure for more affordable housing has resulted in intensification of residential development and biodiversity loss. Using seven medium-density housing developments in three New Zealand cities, we explore the relationship between medium-density and greenspace quality. We also compare the sites pre- and post-development to determine the extent of loss of permeable space. In six developments for which we had pre and post-data, percentage loss…
Transformations in city childhoods
Childhood has changed markedly over the last three generations in response to physical and social changes both locally and globally. This paper asks: How is childhood experienced by city children today and what have been the primary changes in the last three generations, ascertaining the reasons for these? We analyse the primary changes in childhood as experienced by families living in five major Pacific Rim cities. Planning has the ability to ma…
Unseen citizens
Digital footprints of play
Children’s rights to the city
From fun to function
Spaces for play in children's daily-life are essential for their development. However, planning in most cities is limitedly aware of children's needs for playable-spaces. This study explores a PPGIS-approach to identify the “Playscape-quality” of a city, offering insights for planners. Our approach involved 416 children in Mariwan\Iran. Using polygons instead of the conventional pinning-points, children digitally mapped their favourite-outdoor-pl…
How to increase nature connectedness? Effectiveness and mechanisms of a gratitude journal intervention
Nature connectedness can promote pro‐environmental behaviour and psychological well‐being, but little is known about how nature connectedness can be strengthened. Interventions that seek to enhance nature connectedness by promoting direct nature contact may be impractical because urban areas often lack opportunities for interactions with nature in the daily lives of people. This study examines the effects of a gratitude journal exercise on nature…
A rapid assessment technique for evaluating biodiversity to support accreditation of residential properties
Expanding the scope of ethical research with and for children and young people – six viewpoints on crisis, cross-cultural working and reciprocity
This Viewpoints piece is a collection of six contributions to a wider Special Issue for Children’s Geographies on ‘Renewed questions of ethics in research with and for children and young people.’ The pieces extend the Issue in two key ways: i) by representing urgent questions of pandemic and crisis related ethics; and ii) extending the geographical and cultural scope of thinking ethically in research with children and young people
Pacific Island children
Children's voices have been little heard in the Pacific research. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 asserts the child's right to have a say on matters that affect them and for their views to be considered. There has been massive growth in technologically assisted participative research; however, we argue the value of hand drawn maps should not be underestimated in the rush to engage with more advanced techniques. We pr…
Nature exposure and use of open spaces in three generation families
Who uses open spaces, when, and why, are critical questions for planning and managing green and blue spaces in urban areas. We argue that use needs to be studied across a range of ages and spaces. We studied the open space use and preferences of 15 three-generation families, interviewing children, parents and grandparents. Members of each family lived close to each other so had access to the same open spaces, enabling identification of generation…
Identity, belonging and place attachment amongst Pacific Island children
This paper explores the intersection between place, culture and identity as evidenced through photographic narratives of Pacific Island children, based in Samoa and a diasporic community in New Zealand. The study was undertaken with 71 children aged 6–14 in Samoa (35) and New Zealand (36). A Talanoa/fa’afaletui (conversation-based) Pacific research approach was used to analyse 1285 children’s photos of ‘things that matter to them’. Most photos sh…
Pre‐Schoolers’ Vision for Liveable Cities
Although children of all ages have the right to participate in urban planning projects, pre‐literate children’s voices are absent from urban debates. In this paper, we explore pre‐schoolers’ experiences in, and expectations for, their city by drawing on a participatory research project that used neighbourhood walks and a tile‐based mapping exercise. Findings suggest that young children, although largely absent from planning, policy or child‐frien…
Kinship and belonging
Our study with 71 children aged 6-14 living in New Zealand and Samoa, provides a new child-centred perspective on transnational diasporic families. We use the Pacific concept vā to frame the study, in which children's transnational-kinship connections reflect relational rather than physical approaches to space. Familial habitus surpasses spatial habitus as children's primary reference point. For diasporic children, family keeps alive their sense …
Relationships between childhood experience of nature and green/blue space use, landscape preferences, connection with nature and pro-environmental behavior
Adapting Traditional Healing Values and Beliefs into Therapeutic Cultural Environments for Health and Well-Being
Although research has long established that interaction with the natural environment is associated with better overall health and well-being outcomes, the Western model mainly focuses on treating symptoms. In Aotearoa/New Zealand, the Indigenous Māori have long demonstrated significantly more negative health outcomes than non-Māori. Little research has examined the causes compared to Western populations or the role of the natural environment in h…
Covid-19 in New Zealand and the Pacific
The experience of Covid-19 in Aotearoa New Zealand in 2020 has been strongly shaped by a narrative emanating from a robust partnership between politicians and public health experts. This narrative, as we illustrate in the sections below, treads a careful line between hard and soft responses. To elaborate, enacting policy such as closing borders and requiring ‘lockdown’ was swift and firm but was accompanied by an attempt to develop a disposition …
Older adults’ domestic green environments
Greenspaces and access to nature are widely accepted as being beneficial to older adult’s health and well-being. Less well known are the natural elements in their domestic outdoor environments that are used and preferred. In this paper, we identify those most preferred by 72 older adults in New Zealand living in family homes, downsized homes and rest homes. Through the use of geographic information system mapping and photos, we assessed how these…
Walking with preschool-aged children to explore their local wellbeing affordances
An increasingly well-developed body of research uses neighbourhood walks to better understand primary school children's experiences of local environments, yet virtually nothing is known about preschool-aged children's connections to their neighbourhoods. A reason for this omission is the commonly held view that preschool children lack competency to reflect on lived environments beyond playgrounds, kindergartens, and other confined settings that d…
Complexity and flexibility
In a study on urban greenspace use, we conducted one-on-one interviews with children, parents and grandparents living in multi-generational families; there were 15 families and 57 interviewees aged between 6 and 80 years. Although we set out to interview individuals, in practice, it became a fluid zooming in and out between different family members in a dynamic family environment. When preparing for this research, we could find no guidance relate…
Urban social sustainability at the neighbourhood scale
Despite its theoretical and practical significance, urban social sustainability research lacks robust definition, conceptualisation and measurement. In addition, the factors influencing people’s perceived feelings about their neighbourhood are underexplored. The aim of this study is two-fold: First, to develop and empirically test the urban social sustainability (USS) measurement model at the neighbourhood scale that captures the multifaceted nat…
Sense of Place and Belonging in Developing Culturally Appropriate Therapeutic Environments
The connection the Māori, the Indigenous people of Aotearoa-New Zealand, have to the land is threatened by the effects of colonisation, urbanisation and other factors. In particular, many Māori suffer significant health and wellbeing inequalities compared to the non-Māori population. In an effort to reduce such inequalities, there is a growing consciousness of the need to better understand the cultural and place-specific determinants that affect …
Samoan children's sense of place
Pacific Island communities are experiencing significant societal changes as a result of rural urban, inter‐island migration and migration to New Zealand. These relocations have significant implications for children's relationship to place. However, virtually nothing is known about children's sense of place in Samoa or places and activities that are important to them. This exploratory study worked with eight children aged 5–12 years growing up in …
Pre-schoolers' transport imaginaries
Twenty-five years of children's geographies
This paper considers the key trends and changes that have taken place in my 25 years of children's geographies research. I reflect on the growing awareness of children in research but also the continued marginalisation of children and children's concerns in my own planning profession, and the continuing need for a greater presence for Majority world children in research. I ask if we as children's geographers can rise to the growing global challen…
Mapping private gardens in urban areas using object-oriented techniques and very high-resolution satellite imagery
Practitioners, professional cultures, and perceptions of impact assessment
The impacts of ageing on connection to nature
Children's neighbourhoods, social centres to ‘terra incognita’
Neighbourhoods are changing as people lead more spatially dispersed lives diminishing their local social connections. This paper explores the way children interact with their neighbourhoods to see whether they are still socially connected to their neighbourhoods or leading more spatially dispersed social lives. It reports findings from a study of 92 children aged 9–11 in Dunedin, New Zealand. The study found that while many children did have mini…
Twenty-five years of children's geographies
This paper considers the key trends and changes that have taken place in my 25 years of children's geographies research. I reflect on the growing awareness of children in research but also the continued marginalisation of children and children's concerns in my own planning profession, and the continuing need for a greater presence for Majority world children in research. I ask if we as children's geographers can rise to the growing global challen…
Technological inroads into understanding city children's natural life-worlds
Maps and mapping are integral elements in the methodological toolbox used by children's geographers studying children's environmental relationships. The advent of new technologies, particularly computer-mapping software, offers immense potential for enhancing understanding and representation of children's everyday spatial relationships. Computerised mapping tools appeal to children and offer new and exciting applications where children can direct…
Samoan children's sense of place
Pacific Island communities are experiencing significant societal changes as a result of rural urban, inter‐island migration and migration to New Zealand. These relocations have significant implications for children's relationship to place. However, virtually nothing is known about children's sense of place in Samoa or places and activities that are important to them. This exploratory study worked with eight children aged 5–12 years growing up in …
Closing the Gap
van Heezik, Y. M., K. J. M. Dickinson, and C. Freeman. 2012. Closing the gap: communicating to change gardening practices in support of native biodiversity in urban private gardens . Ecology and Society 17(1): 34. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-04712-170134
A rising tide lifts all boats? A preliminary investigation into the impact of rising New Zealand coastal property prices on small communities
Since the early 2000s, property values have escalated in many coastal areas in New Zealand. While the mainstream media see the increasing property values as a positive economic development, Australian research suggests that migration to coastal settlements and increasing property values in those settlements is a more complex phenomenon and warrants close attention. The Australian research reveals significant social and cultural shifts occurring a…
Professionalising' Participation
Local government is increasingly seeking to encourage young people's participation in local government planning and decision-making. This paper examines the relationship between professionals in local government and the young people who are the focus of local government participatory initiatives. We argue that whilst the move towards developing participation initiatives is welcome, there is a need to adopt a process of critical reflection with re…
Pre‐Schoolers’ Vision for Liveable Cities
Although children of all ages have the right to participate in urban planning projects, pre‐literate children’s voices are absent from urban debates. In this paper, we explore pre‐schoolers’ experiences in, and expectations for, their city by drawing on a participatory research project that used neighbourhood walks and a tile‐based mapping exercise. Findings suggest that young children, although largely absent from planning, policy or child‐frien…
Covid-19 in New Zealand and the Pacific
The experience of Covid-19 in Aotearoa New Zealand in 2020 has been strongly shaped by a narrative emanating from a robust partnership between politicians and public health experts. This narrative, as we illustrate in the sections below, treads a careful line between hard and soft responses. To elaborate, enacting policy such as closing borders and requiring ‘lockdown’ was swift and firm but was accompanied by an attempt to develop a disposition …
Pacific Island children
Children's voices have been little heard in the Pacific research. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 asserts the child's right to have a say on matters that affect them and for their views to be considered. There has been massive growth in technologically assisted participative research; however, we argue the value of hand drawn maps should not be underestimated in the rush to engage with more advanced techniques. We pr…
Identity, belonging and place attachment amongst Pacific Island children
This paper explores the intersection between place, culture and identity as evidenced through photographic narratives of Pacific Island children, based in Samoa and a diasporic community in New Zealand. The study was undertaken with 71 children aged 6–14 in Samoa (35) and New Zealand (36). A Talanoa/fa’afaletui (conversation-based) Pacific research approach was used to analyse 1285 children’s photos of ‘things that matter to them’. Most photos sh…
Older adults’ domestic green environments
Greenspaces and access to nature are widely accepted as being beneficial to older adult’s health and well-being. Less well known are the natural elements in their domestic outdoor environments that are used and preferred. In this paper, we identify those most preferred by 72 older adults in New Zealand living in family homes, downsized homes and rest homes. Through the use of geographic information system mapping and photos, we assessed how these…
Walking with preschool-aged children to explore their local wellbeing affordances
An increasingly well-developed body of research uses neighbourhood walks to better understand primary school children's experiences of local environments, yet virtually nothing is known about preschool-aged children's connections to their neighbourhoods. A reason for this omission is the commonly held view that preschool children lack competency to reflect on lived environments beyond playgrounds, kindergartens, and other confined settings that d…
Complexity and flexibility
In a study on urban greenspace use, we conducted one-on-one interviews with children, parents and grandparents living in multi-generational families; there were 15 families and 57 interviewees aged between 6 and 80 years. Although we set out to interview individuals, in practice, it became a fluid zooming in and out between different family members in a dynamic family environment. When preparing for this research, we could find no guidance relate…
Pre-schoolers' transport imaginaries
Hybrid Neoliberalism
Neoliberalism is frequently blamed for challenges in achieving sustainable development; consequently some also question if sustainability is still a useful concept. Neoliberal influence on natural resource management has evolved over the last 30 years to a hybrid form that seeks to compensate for its negative social and environmental externalities. Through review of literature and critical analysis of three case studies of resource development in…
Disaster impact and recovery
Christchurch's earthquakes revealed children's vulnerability to disaster but also their ability to respond and play an active role in recovery. We argue that children's voices need to be heard and given priority in the recovery process because the disaster impacts on them and their families in ways that are not recognised or well understood. We report the findings of a study undertaken with 94 Christchurch children. Its aim was to give voice to c…
Native and exotic woody vegetation communities in domestic gardens in relation to social and environmental factors
Van Heezik, Y. M., C. Freeman, S. Porter, and K. J. M. Dickinson. 2014. Native and exotic woody vegetation communities in domestic gardens in relation to social and environmental factors. Ecology and Society 19(4): 17. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-06978-190417
Expanding the scope of ethical research with and for children and young people – six viewpoints on crisis, cross-cultural working and reciprocity
This Viewpoints piece is a collection of six contributions to a wider Special Issue for Children’s Geographies on ‘Renewed questions of ethics in research with and for children and young people.’ The pieces extend the Issue in two key ways: i) by representing urgent questions of pandemic and crisis related ethics; and ii) extending the geographical and cultural scope of thinking ethically in research with children and young people
Kinship and belonging
Our study with 71 children aged 6-14 living in New Zealand and Samoa, provides a new child-centred perspective on transnational diasporic families. We use the Pacific concept vā to frame the study, in which children's transnational-kinship connections reflect relational rather than physical approaches to space. Familial habitus surpasses spatial habitus as children's primary reference point. For diasporic children, family keeps alive their sense …
Found in (survey) translation
We liaised with a wharekura (Māori language immersion school) to translate and disseminate an online survey for a group of Māori youth in Southland, New Zealand (NZ). The focus of this article is not results, but the processes of respondent orientation and engagement to more genuinely include Māori in a youth survey. An online survey about transport and well‐being was conducted with older teenagers from 12 schools, including the wharekura. After …
Childhoods under canvas
Camping is an important activity for many New Zealand families, with half reporting to be regular campers or intending to camp. We explore the role of camping in the lives of 69 families undertaking this activity at five campgrounds over summer in the South Island of New Zealand. We argue that campgrounds are places that encourage children's freedom, sense of adventure and experience of outdoor activities. The social capital evident in campground…
The Doomsday Syndrome
Deflecting Development
Planning with Children for Better Communities
In addition to clarifying why the issue of children's participation should be prioritised, this book uses examples and case studies from a variety of professions and disciplines in order to explain different methods that can be used to support participation
Locating Skateparks
Professionalising' Participation
Local government is increasingly seeking to encourage young people's participation in local government planning and decision-making. This paper examines the relationship between professionals in local government and the young people who are the focus of local government participatory initiatives. We argue that whilst the move towards developing participation initiatives is welcome, there is a need to adopt a process of critical reflection with re…
A Strategic Approach to Conservation Planning for Coastal New Zealand Landscapes
In New Zealand's lowland production landscapes less than 5% of the land comprises native vegetation. The continuing loss of lowland habitats remains, as the New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy (2000) recognized, one of the most intractable of New Zealand's conservation problems. The reasons behind this loss are explored and possible approaches to arresting this decline are considered. Field research was undertaken in two coastal plains landscapes. …
A rising tide lifts all boats? A preliminary investigation into the impact of rising New Zealand coastal property prices on small communities
Since the early 2000s, property values have escalated in many coastal areas in New Zealand. While the mainstream media see the increasing property values as a positive economic development, Australian research suggests that migration to coastal settlements and increasing property values in those settlements is a more complex phenomenon and warrants close attention. The Australian research reveals significant social and cultural shifts occurring a…
Mapping private gardens in urban areas using object-oriented techniques and very high-resolution satellite imagery
Children's neighbourhoods, social centres to ‘terra incognita’
Neighbourhoods are changing as people lead more spatially dispersed lives diminishing their local social connections. This paper explores the way children interact with their neighbourhoods to see whether they are still socially connected to their neighbourhoods or leading more spatially dispersed social lives. It reports findings from a study of 92 children aged 9–11 in Dunedin, New Zealand. The study found that while many children did have mini…
Influences on children’s environmental cognition
This paper investigates Mexican and New Zealand children’s conception of the environment and their understandings of environmental issues, focusing on how personal experiences, culture and school-based environmental education (EE) programmes influence their perspectives. Sixty Year 5 children (age 9–11) from three schools in Dunedin (New Zealand) and three schools from Ensenada (Mexico), their teachers and school principals were interviewed. The …
Creating Ecologically Based Land Use and Habitat Maps Quickly and Cheaply to Support Conservation Planning at Local Scales
Effective planning to support and enhance ecological values in sites of conservation interest requires accurate, comprehensive and detailed ecologically based maps and data, not only for the conservation site but for the wider landscape in which such sites are situated. In this paper we present an efficient and low cost method for combining appropriate technologies and available data to produce such maps at a landscape level. This method is descr…
“My garden is an expression of me”
Practitioners, professional cultures, and perceptions of impact assessment
Closing the Gap
van Heezik, Y. M., K. J. M. Dickinson, and C. Freeman. 2012. Closing the gap: communicating to change gardening practices in support of native biodiversity in urban private gardens . Ecology and Society 17(1): 34. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-04712-170134
Native and exotic woody vegetation communities in domestic gardens in relation to social and environmental factors
Van Heezik, Y. M., C. Freeman, S. Porter, and K. J. M. Dickinson. 2014. Native and exotic woody vegetation communities in domestic gardens in relation to social and environmental factors. Ecology and Society 19(4): 17. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-06978-190417
Children's Geographies
Disaster impact and recovery
Christchurch's earthquakes revealed children's vulnerability to disaster but also their ability to respond and play an active role in recovery. We argue that children's voices need to be heard and given priority in the recovery process because the disaster impacts on them and their families in ways that are not recognised or well understood. We report the findings of a study undertaken with 94 Christchurch children. Its aim was to give voice to c…
Childhoods under canvas
Camping is an important activity for many New Zealand families, with half reporting to be regular campers or intending to camp. We explore the role of camping in the lives of 69 families undertaking this activity at five campgrounds over summer in the South Island of New Zealand. We argue that campgrounds are places that encourage children's freedom, sense of adventure and experience of outdoor activities. The social capital evident in campground…
Risk, Protection, Provision and Policy
Technological inroads into understanding city children's natural life-worlds
Maps and mapping are integral elements in the methodological toolbox used by children's geographers studying children's environmental relationships. The advent of new technologies, particularly computer-mapping software, offers immense potential for enhancing understanding and representation of children's everyday spatial relationships. Computerised mapping tools appeal to children and offer new and exciting applications where children can direct…
Risk, Protection, Provision and Policy
Planning with Preschoolers
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child requires that children ‘have the right to be heard in matters affecting them’ (Article 12). Given that planning matters such as housing, transport, services and recreation provision affect children, it is necessary, therefore, for planners to engage with children. While planning has made considerable progress in working with older children, preschool children have been overlooked. Preschool…
Children, Nature and Cities
That children need nature for health and well-being is widely accepted, but what type of nature? Specifically, what type of nature is not only necessary but realistically available in the complex and rapidly changing worlds that children currently live in? This book examines child-nature definitions through two related concepts: the need for connecting to nature and the processes by which opportunities for such contact can be enhanced. It analyse…
Found in (survey) translation
We liaised with a wharekura (Māori language immersion school) to translate and disseminate an online survey for a group of Māori youth in Southland, New Zealand (NZ). The focus of this article is not results, but the processes of respondent orientation and engagement to more genuinely include Māori in a youth survey. An online survey about transport and well‐being was conducted with older teenagers from 12 schools, including the wharekura. After …
Twenty-five years of children's geographies
This paper considers the key trends and changes that have taken place in my 25 years of children's geographies research. I reflect on the growing awareness of children in research but also the continued marginalisation of children and children's concerns in my own planning profession, and the continuing need for a greater presence for Majority world children in research. I ask if we as children's geographers can rise to the growing global challen…
Geography (28 works) · Sociology (28 works) · Children's Rights and Participation (21 works) · Political science (20 works) · Psychology (18 works) · Urban Green Space and Health (14 works) · Computer Science (11 works) · Ecology (11 works) · Business (10 works) · Gender Studies (9 works)