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Urban Playground: How Child-Friendly Planning and Design Can Save Cities
What type of cities do we want our children to grow up in? Car-dominated, noisy, polluted and devoid of nature? Or walkable, welcoming, and green? As the climate crisis and urbanisation escalate, cities urgently need to become more inclusive and sustainable. This book reveals how seeing cities through the eyes of children strengthens the case for planning and transportation policies that work for people of all ages, and for the planet. It shows how urban designers and city planners can incorporate child friendly insights and ideas into their masterplans, public spaces and streetscapes. Healthier children mean happier families, stronger communities, greener neighbourhoods, and an economy focused on the long-term. Make cities better for everyone.
208 pages, Paperback
Published February 1, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 15, 2021
This practical and thoroughly researched book gives the ways and means for making cities more playful places for everyone. While the focus is on meeting children’s needs, the knock-on effects have benefits for all age groups since playfulness lies at the heart of community connection and civil identity.
September 11, 2021
Tim Gill offers a clear perspective to the child-friendly cities concept in a concise format. This book is majorly for an audience in a position of authority to design and plan our cities. The book is divided into 6 chapters, beginning with Chapters 1 & 2- forming the premise behind the idea of why there is even a need to think about cities from a child's lens.
Chapter 3 takes us into the details of the several initiatives taken by Rotterdam city over a period of several years in creating child-friendliness as the core foundation of their city planning, design and programming. Once labelled as the worst municipality to bring up a child in the Netherlands, the city has taken a U-turn and became one of the world's most child-friendly cities. However, Tim doesn't shy away in mentioning that the city adopted a state-sponsored gentrification approach to reach that stage, focusing openly on affluent families.
Chapter 4 presents 13 interesting case studies from around the globe. As expected, the majority of them are from the Global North. These are enjoyable but could have been better if more in-depth details could have been provided. Based on these case studies, Tim further takes the reader to Chapter 5, in which he introduces 9 principles, 4 building blocks and 18 tools to create a child-friendly city. These are inspired by several resources from government, international and non-governmental organizations already available online.
Finally, in Chapter 6, he outlines the key takeaways and answers the question 'what next?'. Overall, it is a good light read, especially for people who are new to the idea of child-friendly cities and are looking for someone to explain to them in simple language why there is even a need to do the same.
p.s- I like some of the infographics, clear frameworks and tables -which are quite useful.
Chapter 3 takes us into the details of the several initiatives taken by Rotterdam city over a period of several years in creating child-friendliness as the core foundation of their city planning, design and programming. Once labelled as the worst municipality to bring up a child in the Netherlands, the city has taken a U-turn and became one of the world's most child-friendly cities. However, Tim doesn't shy away in mentioning that the city adopted a state-sponsored gentrification approach to reach that stage, focusing openly on affluent families.
Chapter 4 presents 13 interesting case studies from around the globe. As expected, the majority of them are from the Global North. These are enjoyable but could have been better if more in-depth details could have been provided. Based on these case studies, Tim further takes the reader to Chapter 5, in which he introduces 9 principles, 4 building blocks and 18 tools to create a child-friendly city. These are inspired by several resources from government, international and non-governmental organizations already available online.
Finally, in Chapter 6, he outlines the key takeaways and answers the question 'what next?'. Overall, it is a good light read, especially for people who are new to the idea of child-friendly cities and are looking for someone to explain to them in simple language why there is even a need to do the same.
p.s- I like some of the infographics, clear frameworks and tables -which are quite useful.
August 15, 2022
I picked this book up on the recommendation of the Let Grow foundation. It was a difficult book to find, our library system had only 1 copy. Turns out it is a beautiful book, with hundreds of pictures and tables. However, as a parent, I hoped the book would provide some simple steps or ideas that I could take to a city council meeting, but it is far more comprehensive than that. The most important principles I drew from it are:
1) Cars and kids don't mix. The most child friendly places are those where cars are limited and children are free to play, walk, or bike.
2) Playgrounds aren't enough. Children need active and risky play which fixed equipment doesn't usually provide. Natural, open green space is better.
3) Need to consider a wide variety of ages and abilities when designing public spaces for children.
The book used a number of case studies from all around the world, in wealthy and poor cities alike, but what I gathered from the studies generally boiled down to: an inventory was taken, input was collected from children, targeted intervention taken. The steps and tools seemed to require some specialized knowledge of metrics, or how to solicit appropriate feedback, so that I don't think any parent or city planner could just pick up this book start building a more child friendly city. The process outlined here probably requires hiring a consultant or partnering with one of dozens of non-profits mentioned, and this was disappointing. Still, it is a good introduction to planning and design for child-friendly cities.
1) Cars and kids don't mix. The most child friendly places are those where cars are limited and children are free to play, walk, or bike.
2) Playgrounds aren't enough. Children need active and risky play which fixed equipment doesn't usually provide. Natural, open green space is better.
3) Need to consider a wide variety of ages and abilities when designing public spaces for children.
The book used a number of case studies from all around the world, in wealthy and poor cities alike, but what I gathered from the studies generally boiled down to: an inventory was taken, input was collected from children, targeted intervention taken. The steps and tools seemed to require some specialized knowledge of metrics, or how to solicit appropriate feedback, so that I don't think any parent or city planner could just pick up this book start building a more child friendly city. The process outlined here probably requires hiring a consultant or partnering with one of dozens of non-profits mentioned, and this was disappointing. Still, it is a good introduction to planning and design for child-friendly cities.
December 30, 2021
What type of cities do we want our children to grow up in? Car-dominated, noisy, polluted and devoid of nature? Or walkable, playable and green? The answer to this question will be clear. The book 'Urban playground' looks for ways in which you can achieve the latter by describing different projects, principles and tools. A review on: https://urbanspringtime.blogspot.com/...
September 20, 2021
good base guide to child friendly city strategies + really easy to follow structure
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews