London leads the way with new planning guidance

Posted on February 9, 2012 | 7 comments

Cover of draft GLA SPG on playThe Mayor of London has today released draft revised planning guidance for outdoor play, entitled Shaping Neighbourhoods: Children and Young People’s Play and Informal Recreation. The document shows that London’s decision-makers continue to take seriously the play needs of the capital’s children and young people.

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Posted in Outdoor play, Play spaces, playground, Public policy, Public space, Urban planning, Urbanism

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Care about cities and children? You must read this book

Posted on February 7, 2012 | 6 comments

A brief post, to flag up a wonderful opportunity to get under the skin of The Death and Life of Great American Cities, written in 1961 by Jane Jacobs.

City Builder Book Club » Mary Rowe on the Introduction: Why you will read and reread this book.

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Posted in Urban planning, Urbanism

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When you walk or you ride or you sit or you climb, that’s affordance

Posted on January 30, 2012 | 25 comments

I’ve thinking a lot about affordances recently. An affordance is something in the environment that makes an offer to a person, or that reveals a possible function. Here is an example: a flat hard surface about 20 – 40 cm off the ground affords sitting.

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Posted in Outdoor play, play, Play spaces, playground, Public space

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Why scaremongering about strangers has to stop

Posted on January 24, 2012 | 6 comments

Let’s get one thing straight. The threat from strangers is vanishingly small and has been for years – no matter what you might think from the tabloid headlines and distorted television coverage. What is more, the vast majority of child murders are committed by their parents, not by strangers. However low the risk, it is tempting to think that we – and children – have to be prepared for the worst: that we have no choice but to frighten them, in order to protect them. Tempting, but disastrously wrong. For it ignores the corrosive impact of the fear of strangers.

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Posted in Parenting, Risk

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Who says kids don’t play in creeks and build dens any more?

Posted on January 17, 2012 | 7 comments

Of course some still do. Take the group of boys from Raleigh, North Carolina captured in this slide show.

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Posted in Nature, Outdoor play, Parenting, Risk

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Is a taste of freedom the key to a good childhood?

Posted on January 13, 2012 | 6 comments

Yesterday’s launch of the Good Childhood report from the Children’s Society has prompted more soul-searching about childhood. Coverage has focused on the report’s finding that half a million of the country’s children aged 8 to 16 – nearly 10 per cent – had a low sense of well-being. This is indeed a troubling finding – even if some of those children will become happier over time. Yet this media focus, while understandable, misses out a far more important message: the crucial value of a taste of freedom and autonomy. Continue reading →

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Posted in Mobility, Outdoor play, Public policy

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