Introduction:
Inclusive urban design plays a key role in ensuring accessible cities and sustainable mobility for all age groups. This research focuses on the child population. Currently, public transport environments lack planning that considers the specific needs of children, despite their potential as nodes of social interaction and mobility.

Identification of the knowledge gap to be addressed:
Despite growing interest in improving these environments, the literature reveals a significant gap: there is no model that links the characteristics of these environments with the way children and their caregivers use them.

Objectives:
To address this gap in knowledge, the study pursues two main objectives: (O1) to compile a set of criteria that enable the creation of transport environments more suitable for children, based on an initial diagnosis and a thorough literature review, and (O2) to design a diagnostic method that applies this catalogue of criteria to the evaluation of urban environments near tram stops, in order to identify opportunity areas.

Case study:
The urban environments of public transport stops are analysed, specifically at the stops of Line 4 of the Valencia tram, proposing criteria to design safe, inclusive, and functional urban spaces that promote public transport from an early age.

Sources and method:
As a novel contribution, the study employs multiple data sources, combining more traditional methods, such as field studies and surveys, with contemporary sources, including social media. The methodology was divided into four phases: literature review, development of the criteria catalogue, site analysis, and evaluation of the stops.

Results:
The results aim to fill the gap identified in the literature, offering a practical and theoretical framework for improving these urban nodes. In addition, they demonstrate, among other findings, that the public transport stops in Valencia do not meet the criteria that respond to the needs of the child population, especially in peripheral areas, highlighting spatial inequity and a missed opportunity to promote public transport use.

Conclusions:
Designing public transport stop environments that are accessible, safe, and attractive to children by applying the developed criteria fosters their autonomy, promotes sustainable mobility in cities, and improves urban quality.