I am pulling together a research proposal on the topic above and would like to know what you think are the key ideas and examples regarding children and open space in cities, in relation to environmental, societal and economic concerns? It's a very wide subject I know, but the final piece will be reflecting that.
Thanks!
Sam a very interesting approach is the use Biophilic Design. It combine natural elements, such as water, green, colors, etc. with cognitive and structural principles able to support the children's wellbeing
You need to consider the travel time such locations it should not be far from the place of residence. The issue of safety is also a mjor issue to be examined. I will suggest the issue of adopting flexibility in the space planning and equipments to be included. A major attraction will be the ability to incorporate common cartoon characters in the scheme so that the children can relate with it.
I think something can be learnt from the experience of Fuji Kindergarden and the work of Takaharu Tezuka. The key take back lessons are: circular spaces and organic environments are safer than non-organic and non-circular polygonal spaces. Making spaces safe so that children don't get physically hurt at all should not be an ultimate aim in urban design.
https://www.ted.com/talks/takaharu_tezuka_the_best_kindergarten_you_ve_ever_seen?language=en
Apart from the design of kindergarten and school environments (for the latter, R Walden's book 'Schools for the Future' has good insights, though the separated school environments eliminate many safety questions) there has been some good research about public spaces (so long ago I unfortunately don't remember specific sources -- perhaps EDRA conference papers?) One good rule of thumb was to separate e.g. public parks from dangerous roadways by a series of visual and tactile environment zones: different ground materials -- paving, gravel, soil or grass areas, slight elevation changes and light: darker shaded zones as borders (trees with different foliage density than those in the main park area). The idea is to alert children (e.g kids running after stray balls they are playing with) that they are getting into 'different' and possibly dangerous environments requiring attention and care, but not introducing barriers -- like the iron mesh fences surrounding so many schools making them look and feel like prisons.
Dear Sam Williams. there are numerous studies about your interest. I think if you search with the keyword "child-friendly public spaces" you will find a lot of اhelpful researches and experiences. for example:
http://www.child-friendly.org/
http://thisbigcity.net/seven-ideas-from-tokyo-for-child-friendly-spaces/
http://rethinkingchildhood.com/category/public-space/
http://www.pps.org/blog/want-to-create-family-friendly-places-get-the-kids-at-the-table/
Dear Sam,
First of all, it is crucial to listen to children's perspectives and visions about their life in the city realm . Within the field of Sociology of Childhood you will find theoretical views that are very important to consider. Also in Environmental Psychology it is important to understand the child-place theoretical models.
Have a look in these following links:
http://childfriendlycities.org/
Look out for the Rotterdam City example in terms of building a child-friendly city.
Also search in http://www.lacittadeibambini.org/
This thesis:
http://lib.tkk.fi/Diss/2003/isbn9512268736/
This papers are very interesting as "criteria to define" child friendly environments (from the previous author, Marketta Kyttä:
The extent of children's independent mobility and the number of actualized affordances as criteria for child-friendly environments
Child-friendly urban structures: Bullerby revisited
The Child in the City conferences have also interesting and practical presentations regarding the promotion of child-friendly cities, environments and spaces.
I hope this helps. Good luck
Children are playful and quite inventive.while designing for child friendly public realm would effectively mean more safe spaces.
I recommend the links below
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/colin-ward-the-child-in-the-city.pdf
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dpu-projects/21st_Century/resources/papers/documents/Chawla.pdf
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