Seattle blazes a hopscotch trail

Posted on May 16, 2013 | 7 Comments

Call it fate, call it something in the ether, or call it a sign of changing times, but word has reached me of a hopscotch game that will put ten-year-old Lilly Allen’s efforts to shame (not that we’re being competitive). Residents of Seattle are organising a hopscotch trail that is set to go for nearly 2 miles across the Central District – and it’s happening in a couple of weeks!

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Posted in Outdoor play, Urbanism

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Hopscotch ban is not all bad news

Posted on May 16, 2013 | 4 Comments

Screengrab Sun hopscotch storyIn case you missed it, last week’s everyday childhood news flurry featured a ten-year-old girl, a street hopscotch game and an over-zealous police officer. Having threatened the child with criminal damage, the officer found himself the target of screenfuls of righteous media anger, led by the Sun newspaper. It is easy to slip into “ain’t it awful” mode with stories like this. But while I am not about to defend the police’s actions, I do want to offer a more positive twist on the tale.

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Posted in Outdoor play

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The wobbly bridge revisited, or the problem with playground standards

Posted on April 29, 2013 | 13 Comments

3 boys in playground, one falling off a beamIn my last post, I used the example of a wobbly bridge to highlight why it is hard to manage risk in play spaces. I promised to say more about the role of equipment standards in managing risk, and why they need to be rethought. This post delivers on that promise.

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Posted in Outdoor play, Play spaces, playground, Public policy, Risk

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The wobbly bridge, or why it is harder to manage risk in playgrounds than factories

Posted on April 22, 2013 | 5 Comments

Rope bridge in play area“How can we make our playground safe?” It seems a simple enough question. Yet the answer is anything but (and even the question is not as simple as it looks). In fact, managing risk in a playground is much more complex than in a factory or a workplace. The reason for this is down to a fundamental difference in the nature of the task. One way to grasp this difference is to think about a wobbly bridge.

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Posted in Outdoor play, Play spaces, playground, Risk

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News Consumption Disorder: symptoms, diagnosis and cure

Posted on April 17, 2013 | 11 Comments

Front cover of Daily Mirror with Madeleine storyWhat role does news coverage play in shaping the way we think about the risks children face? Is a diet of bad news really bad for us, and if so, what can we do about it? These questions were on my mind after Monday night’s engaging debate on modern childhood organised by my old employers the National Children’s Bureau (NCB) to launch its 50th anniversary celebrations.

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Posted in Risk

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A century of rethinking childhood

Posted on April 8, 2013 | 7 Comments

I’m devoting my 100th blog post to a look back over the previous 99, and over the 20 months or so since my first post. It is a chance for me to think about the process of blogging – and an invitation to you to check out some material that you may have missed.

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Posted in Technology

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Are child-friendly city approaches being used to push out poor families?

Posted on March 25, 2013 | 12 Comments

Rotterdam child-friendly city report coverRotterdam is one the few big cities that has taken seriously the goal of becoming more child-friendly. Its ambitious planning policies have been debated in the National Assembly for Wales (see this web page and the links from it for some English-language material). Its public space improvement projects have been lauded at international conferences (indeed in 2008 it hosted Child in the City, a leading global cross-disciplinary event). What is more, unlike some other Child-Friendly City initiatives, it focuses on hard outcomes that make a real difference in children’s lives – better parks, improved walking and cycling networks, wider pavements – and not just on participation processes that, however well-intentioned, may end up being idle wheels. I have visited Rotterdam and seen the impressive results at first-hand, and have promoted the city’s work in presentations. Yet according to one scholar, the city’s progressive stance hides a more sinister goal: the marginalisation and relocation of poor families.

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Posted in Public policy, Public space, Urbanism

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