A Child’s Place in the City: Learning as Medium for Place-making

Abstract

Recent travels around the world has revealed cities of vast differences, some ethereal, rising into the stars, others humble and earthy. Their visible inhabitants that share these too, can have great differences. Conspicuously absent from many of these cities, is that of children seen using and enjoying streets and public places. Although this is seen to be true to a greater extent in certain cities over others, my general observation has become the underlying motivation to develop a thesis dedicated to children in modern cities. So where can the children be found within these cities? not surprisingly behind the gates and walls of schools, child-care centres and fenced playgrounds away from the public's eye. Children, like all social groups deserve to live, learn, play and generally have access to their city. However, currently these activities are confined within child-specific spaces which are regimented, institutionalized and generally disconnected from the wider urban community. These spaces may be seen as 'safe' for children away from traffic, pollution and general parental fears of modern cities but has resulted in the isolation, segregation and the general disappearance of children among public life. As a result, children seem to be the marginalized social group within modern cities who do not have a sense of place or belonging in modern cities, as their presence cannot be seen and felt. With these factors in mind, the aim of this thesis is to: Examine the current state of children's lives in modern cities; Challenge the existing spaces available to children for learning and play; Explore different ways in which children learn; Offer an alternative, more integrative solution to the current learning and play spaces which isolates children from the wider urban community In order to do so it is important to understand how children see their city, construct a sense of place and the ways in which children learn. This is done through research, a workshop with a group of children from Parnell school in Auckland, as well as explorations and experimentations of different forms of learning and play-spaces alternative to the existing. Using Auckland Central Business District as a site for intervention, these experiments and findings shall then be implemented within public spaces based on their existing physical, social and sensorial conditions which can potentially offer different types of learning opportunities. Without the intention of recreating a child-specific institution my aim is to explore potential for integration between children, the city, and the urban community using the medium of architecture and learning, ultimately by constructing a sense of place for children in modern cities, so their presence may be felt and will no longer be a marginalized social group within these cities.