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Honouring young children’s voices to enhance inclusive communities

Children’s environments and their ability to interact with them have impacts upon their well-being and sense of identity. Creation of participatory methodologies for children of all ages and particularly for children under five years of age is a step towards understanding what is necessary to create inclusivity and towards addressing the inequity faced by young children in their environments. This article will draw on data from a research project with an inner-urban local government body in Victoria, Australia, that aimed to support young children’s participation within the local government and the community. These data demonstrate how participatory methods can be used with children under five outside of typical early-childhood institutions; the article also analyses the data in terms of the specific experiences of dependent young children in an urban environment and the related effects on their well-being and mobility.