Category Archives: Urbanism

Urban design, architecture, planning

Seattle blazes a hopscotch trail

Posted on May 16, 2013 | 6 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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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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The sorry state of neighbourhood design in America: a mother writes

Posted on January 22, 2013 | 38 Comments

After my last blog post about German children having more everyday freedom than their English peers, Andrea – a German-born woman who now lives in the USA – got in touch to leave a comment. She had some revealing things to say about the differences between her home and adopted countries, and has agreed to let me share them more prominently. She paints a depressing picture of car-dependence and isolation: a stark comparison with her experiences in Germany. Here is her story.

Road near Bailey School, Minnesota.

Woodbury, MN. Source: Strongtowns.org

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Posted in Mobility, Parenting, Public policy, Urbanism

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German children enjoy far more everyday freedom than their English peers

Posted on January 14, 2013 | 37 Comments

New research from the Policy Studies Institute (PSI) shows that only a quarter of English primary school children are allowed to walk to school alone – yet in Germany, three quarters are. It is easy to think that the decline in children’s freedom to play out of doors and get around on their own is an inevitable side effect of modern life. That is why international comparisons are so valuable: they can show us how things might be different.

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Posted in Mobility, Parenting, Public policy, Urbanism

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A seasonal vision of child-friendliness

Posted on December 24, 2012 | Leave a comment

Four children playing in a snowy street“When it snows, children take over the city: they sleigh, throw snowballs, make snowmen and are more visible than ever. But what a city needs for its children has to be more durable than snow.”

A seasonal reminder of what child-friendliness means from Dutch architect Aldo van Eyck, whose work in postwar Amsterdam has for some years been a source of inspiration for me. Quoted in a piece by Alex Gillian of Public Workshop.

Happy holidays, everyone!

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Posted in Urbanism

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How child-friendly is Moscow?

Posted on December 11, 2012 | 14 Comments

Mum and child on bridgeOn my visit to Moscow last week, I witnessed an intriguing sight as I was crossing a bridge near the city centre. A little girl and her mother were walking towards me. As they went past, the girl stooped down to make a snowball, and then she threw it playfully towards her mother. Not very noteworthy, you may think – except that it was minus 6 degrees Centigrade, with a biting wind and eight lanes of Moscow traffic roaring by just metres away from us. You could not have asked for a clearer example of children’s appetite for play, regardless of their circumstances. So how well does Russia’s capital satisfy that appetite – how child-friendly is it?

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Posted in Mobility, Outdoor play, Public policy, Urbanism

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