Key ingredients of a child friendly city with @timrgill at Re_Festival @CIVIC_SQUARE

Think about the kinds of places you played with a child. Think of where you played...? Was it outside and were adults there?

*as a child

Often places were outside and are free from adults. Kids were able to roam. ( A brum based organisation advocating for this is @Roam_kids )

Tim talks about the shrinking horizons of childhood and that 8 year olds today are essentially confined to their houses/gardens

How can planning and city design readdress this imbalance?

Understanding that historically playgrounds have been seen as civic hubs and informal community centres but how these spaces have become stark and under resourced

Child friendly places have things to do, green space and the ability to free range. Our vision should be that we all have a claim on everyday freedoms.

Having children visibly playing, is positive place indicator of a city or place.

Car free places = makes for playful, social neighbourhoods. Tim's model for a child friendly place, echoed by children themselves includes free movement, safe and social spaces.

Tim referencing Ella Kissi-Debrah and the pressing need for addressing air pollution in our cities.

Tim now advocating for collective thinking with children in co-authoring how we design our cities and redesigning our neighbourhoods through child friendly planning

Lots of great projects, information and further reading: https://rethinkingchildhood.com  Follow @timrgill

What has living through a pandemic meant? Hyperlocal approaches, less traffic, setting up school streets, low traffic neighbourhood etc.
Re-framing the conversation to becoming less adult-centric and more playful.

Open question: What can you do now to give children the same sense of freedom you were afforded as a child?

Child friendly cities are automatically intergenerational but
fundamentally children can't vote and we need to act intentionally in their best interests.

Great example for intergenerational planning @880Cities

Safe street play @playingout

For children's healthy development they need to develop their own sense of personal agency, playfulness and access to outdoor space. Raising children in captivity means they are having to do some of these things online.

Tim suggesting further reading through the work of @Livingstone_S

At @CIVIC_SQUARE and @_BABHaus we have been exploring 10 interdependent investment areas, co-authored by children, families, practitioners, policy makers, planners, designers that include children's right to play and children's agency - Further reading https://www.radicalchild.care/right-to-play 

Progressive change needs to involve and engage children in conversations about creating sustainable and child friendly places but it also needs adults to do the work

Further reading: https://islandpress.org/books/designing-streets-kids

Folks to follow: @ludicology @EmmaMBearman @play_future @880Cities @cityofsound @ParticipatoryC @playingout @_BABHaus

Big thanks to @timrgill for these amazing insights and for @ImmyKaur expert facilitation. One more quick plug for https://www.radicalchild.care  - our plan is to explore these ideas through a Public Square, Neighbourhood Economics Lab and Creative + Participatory Ecosystem @CIVIC_SQUARE

The physical centre of this public square is @_BABHaus an alliance of advocacy for children and childhood a place to play, learn and create.