Understanding the relationship between neighbourhood environments and children's health and well-being: A Bangladesh-UK knowledge sharing network for developing effective practice in the Global South.

High population growth in major cities is leading to high-density living in many urban areas in the Global South, with apartment buildings encroaching on open spaces, parks, playgrounds, and public amenities. While studies have shown the adverse effects of the built environment on the physical and mental health of adults, little is known about its impact on children. We aim to explore the connections between the built environment and children's mental health in the Global South, with a primary focus on Bangladesh, where 60% of the urban population are children. By exploring children’s own perceptions using their drawings as stimuli for focus group discussions, we aim to examine what features of the environment contribute to their sense of well-being. The potential impact of this research is significant and could lead to the co-creation of more child-friendly urban environments, contributing to multiple sustainable development goals. The UK has made much progress toward creating child-friendly urban environments. Best practice, however, cannot be transplanted from the global North to the global South, and culture and context must be central to any knowledge-sharing endeavour. We aim to develop a networking initiative to facilitate collaboration between researchers from Bangladesh, India and the UK. We will leverage effective practices that harvest the knowledge needed to foster the development of child-friendly cities. Our activity will facilitate the crafting of a research proposal that will inform the development of sustainable and scalable practices that will inform policy and practice in the Global South.