Image from parkstarter.com
Have you ever looked at a piece of derelict land in your area and thought “that could make a nice spot for a park” – and then felt your spirit fall as it sits boarded up for years, or worse still, gets turned into a temporary car park? Manchester resident Sam Easterby-Smith has, and has decided to do something about it. He has created Parkstarter: a crowd-funded, pop-up park creation scheme. And he wants to try it out in his home city.
Posted in Public space, Urbanism
Tagged campaign, home zone, Manchester, parks, peak car, urbanism
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!
Posted in Outdoor play, Urbanism
Tagged hopscotch, Seattle, street play, streets, urbanism, USA
[May 2019: postscript added – see the end of this post.]
Rotterdam 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. 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.
Posted in Public policy, Public space, Urban planning, Urbanism
Tagged child-friendly cities, gentrification, Jane Jacobs, Netherlands, public policy, Rotterdam, urbanism
On 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?
Posted in Mobility, Outdoor play, Public policy, Urban planning, Urbanism
Tagged child-friendly cities, mobility, Moscow, planning policy, play, public-space, Russia, urban design, urbanism
Image by Edwin Gardner, from Partizan Publik
In a couple of weeks I will be speaking at the Moscow Urban Forum, and I am asking for your help in making the most of this exciting opportunity. I want to find out more about everyday life for Moscow’s children. Can you help me discover what it is like to grow up in the neighbourhoods that the majority of Muscovite families live in?
Posted in Mobility, Outdoor play, Public space, Urban planning, Urbanism
Tagged child-friendly cities, mobility, Moscow, planning policy, play, public space, Russia, urban design, urbanism
Last week I was tipped off about an intriguing job opportunity: a street play research officer. Which global city, you may wonder, is showing such a strong interest in this topic? Mumbai, perhaps? Nope. Rio de Janeiro? Wrong again. The answer is New York City. It’s just one sign that street play, often consigned to the black-and-white memories of baby-boomers, is enjoying something of a renaissance.
Posted in Outdoor play, Public policy, Urbanism
Tagged car dependence, child-friendly cities, neighbourhood, outdoor play, playing out, road closure, streets, transport, urban design, urbanism
Rethinking Childhood 