Create, control and have territories or secret places: A comparative study of children's play territoriality in their daily outdoor environments between Beijing's urban villages and modern residential areas

Outdoor activity spaces have very significant influences on children's growth and development. While being one of the most important spaces for children, their living environments have differentiated with the urbanization process in China. This study aims to examine the territorial selection, territorial psychology and territorial behavior of children 8-12 years old when playing outdoors from the perspective of human territoriality theory by comparing two groups of children living in urban villages and residential areas in Beijing respectively. The results show that the overall territoriality of children in residential areas is greater than that of children in urban villages. Children's territorial psychology and territorial behaviors are closely related to their cognition and spatial use. Whether the territories are dominated by groups or individuals, children in residential areas generally consider them to be play spaces, while children in urban villages tend to express feelings in their territories.