Children construct a sense of place in urban public spaceThe aim of this study was to investigate how children construct a sense of place in urban public space. The study was based, in part, on the concern that in some western cities children are viewed as not having a place or not belonging in the public domain. This study uses children’s own perspectives to challenge that assumption.
Twenty children in Dublin City, Ireland participated as collaborators in this study. They were selected on the basis that they lived in the city and walked around their neighborhoods on a regular basis, both with and without an adult. The children were between the ages of nine and eleven, an age when children generally begin to develop independence in moving about their neighborhood. The participants, all from the north-west inner city of Dublin, were from a range of socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds.
The children used cameras to record their experience of everyday walks through the city. They also participated in photo-elicited interviews, giving each child an opportunity to explain the meaning of the photographs they took. Including the interviews as a part of the study was based on the understanding that, while the photos document a subjective experience and have a specific meaning, they can only be interpreted accurately by the children themselves.
An analysis of the data indicates that through their everyday experience of walks through the city, children construct a sense of place comprising a landscape of four interwoven layers: social, sensory, pragmatic and imaginative. The social dimension, framed by encounters with adults and peers, represented 45% of the children’s references to their urban landscape. These social encounters served to construct a sense of place and belonging for the children and added considerable pleasure to the experience. The sensory dimension (sounds, vision, smells and touch) seemed to have particular relevance to the children. They expressed delight with buildings they considered ‘beautiful’ and natural elements they noticed such as trees, flowers and animals. The imaginative dimension was experienced, at times, as fun and at other times as frightening. Children’s sense of safety was also influenced by the imaginative dimension, as when a child associated empty beer cans with the possible presence of people who may be dangerous. The pragmatic dimension, too, included an awareness of safety issues relating to such challenges as traffic and poor maintenance.
The findings of this study indicate that children, rather than not belonging in the public realm, feel very much in place in public space. These findings challenge a tendency in urban planning to construct separate places for children. The authors suggest working from a participative planning model that results in urban spaces which welcome children’s presence. Such an approach would not only create a more child-friendly city, but would also meet the needs of adults and make the city a more sustainable place.
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