Whyte, (1980) mentions that children play in the streets and urban spaces and it is not about non-existence of play grounds because it is all about they like to play in urban context. In addition, for many years play spaces lack of design touches and pretty much same anywhere (Taylor, 2008). Urban open spaces give children opportunity to play freely, discover the things themselves, develop new skills, plan and manage their own time, and also help their motor skills and communication skills to be developed. Woolley (1997) found that over seventy percent of involved children visit their town centres more than once a week and this rate is higher in big towns and cities. Children like being in the town centre or younger ones are brought to town centres by their parents. However, some concerns and boundaries limit their use of town centres such as legal, social and physical boundaries which legal authorities, designers or managers and adults set up (Woolley, et. al. 2011). Carmona, (2010) explains social boundaries or safety concerns such as parental worries, existence of drunk people or drug users, fear of motor vehicles, fear of a crime and so on, and physical barriers such as; poorly maintained spaces, well-being (children and elderly people) and car dominated urban environments. Woolley et. al., (1999a) discuss that parental worries about “stranger danger” or their child being abused by some others are the most common thoughts which keep children away from Urban open spaces. In addition, Woolley et. al.(1999b)'s study, which involved questionnaire survey of children, found that children mentioned their fears of strangers such as tramps, drunk people, beggars, drug users and so on. As a result many children stated that they prefer...
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...s cost millions of pounds to local authorities and significant amount of money is spent for water features.
Spaces are not designed ideally with enlightenment of literature and design rules could easily result in non-functional urban open spaces. As an example Amin, (2002) mentioned that some spaces just serve as transit spaces with very little or no contact with strangers. Having little or no contact results in not socially functional spaces. On the other hand in or around some civic urban open spaces fast traffic flow makes these spaces unusable and dangerous, especially for children. These car dominated spaces are just transit roads for pedestrians and only movement experience rather than movement and social experience (Carmona, 2010). Gehl and Gemozoe, (2003) argue that in such spaces, only used by people when it is necessary not used because of they wanted to.
Vincent Van Gogh stated, "As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed." Indeed, we often find ourselves in hard circumstances, where our strength can be challenged and tested its limits on an array of unusual activities. After accomplishing all given difficulties, we would get new thrills like being the winner, overcoming fears of height, conquering the opponents, or just winning in new tough games. Children also need this thing to grow physical as well as mental health. Therefore, John Tierney wrote the article “Can a Playground Be Too Safe?” which was published on New York Times on July 18, 2011 to show a common issue in our society. The author wondered
People who say “Rockwell’s playground is still an adventure playground—a construction site with all the splintery edges sanded down. It’s what an adventure playground looks like in a risk-averse culture. And it promotes the kind of play we think children should be doing now: not with just their bodies, but with their minds. The Imagination Playground is a much more cognitive vision of the playground. No one would confuse it with a jungle gym.” (Day 2) This shows that children to Mr.Day should be using their heads more and playgrounds should be safer, but Commissioner of parks in New York Henry Stern has a different idea. He says “His philosophy seemed reactionary at the time, but today it’s shared by some researchers who question the value of safety-first playgrounds. Even if children do suffer fewer physical injuries — and the evidence for that is debatable — the critics say that these playgrounds may stunt emotional development, leaving children with anxieties and fears that are ultimately worse than a broken bone.” (Tierney 1) Showing that kids should be doing physical activities at parks and using their imagination somewhere else. Not only-but also David Ball says “There is no clear evidence that playground safety measures have lowered the average risk on playgrounds,” said David Ball, a professor of risk management at Middlesex University in London. He noted that the risk of some injuries, like long
Children can greatly benefit from having chances to create connections to the real world in their play space, waiting for the fruit on the fruit trees to ripen or continuously checking to see if their seeds have sprouted all provide both connections to the real world ,as well as expanding developmental skills and knowledge. An ideal learning environment for children does not necessarily need to cost a lot of money to establish and maintain, using items found out the natural environment can often spark creativity and connections with children. Children don't need to always be surrounded by the newest and fanciest plastic toys, natural ideas such as wood blocks can but used instead of lego pieces or rocks for painting on, items such as those can be cheap easily found and yet still provide children with the same if not more developmental skills and learning. From young age children need to be presented with opportunities to take safe risks in order for them to grow and
Children who grow up in small towns often desire nothing more to leave the place they are confined to. Everything is remarkably mundane, strikingly predictable, and they yearn to feel the thrill of the unexpected that living in a city provides. However, there are key life lessons one can only experience in a small town. With just over 4000 inhabitants, one cannot make a trip to any store without meeting two, or ten, familiar faces. Constant interaction makes a person uncomfortably friendly. They are willing to talk to anyone sitting on a bus, waiting in line, or standing in a bathroom. In addition, these circumstances foster a trusting nature. In fact, there are few people in a small town that could not be trusted. Of course, the trust and friendliness allowed for a lot of freedom as a child. Parents never thought twice about allowing a child to venture out with friends or spend hours running around playing make-believe. Children have to supply their own entertainment, only increasing the independence they have. While they spend their lives wishing to get out of that town, they grow up to realize how it truly impacted the person they have
In part three, Why Johnnie and Jeannie Don’t Play Outside Anymore, it is clear that nature is seen as something to fear and dangerous, therefore making parents and children worry on whether it is “safe” to free play. In part three we learn that nature is being stereotyped by an illusion of a buggy man, and ignored and minimized by both parents and the education system, all of which is harming children today and the generations to come.
What Parents Need to Know about Playgrounds The essay, “Learning Responsibility on City Sidewalks” by Jane Jacobs, gives insight into the positive aspects that come out of neighborly interaction and expresses how the creation of playgrounds within the community can taint a child’s upbringing. The use of playgrounds is said to lead to a lack of joint responsibility which can have an influence on the youth within a community. The author feels that parks do not benefit pubescents in same the way that adult interaction does; therefore, they are frugal communal wastes.
The exigency of both indoor and outside areas, each offering safe play environments were stated for premises with the purpose for this being observed in the optimal curriculum.
In modern Western countries, adults take the responsibility of managing children’ behaviours, activities and the environment as protecting children from significant injuries. Also, parents are likely to pay more attention to protect their children from external injuries such as traffic accidents, stranger’s dangerous, personal accidents and other factors (Wyver et al., 2010, p.264). Under these kinds of protections, children lose many opportunities for free play and lead to the increase of childhood obesity as well as inactivity health issues (Wyver et al., 2010, p. 263). Beside the protection from parents, the features in the childhood environment are less risky for children to play with. For example, some Western countries such as the United Kingdom uses the rubber playground to reduce the rates of children injuries (Wyver et al., 2010, p. 265). The surplus safety from both parents and environment minimises children’s chances and experiences of encountering risks. In some way, the surplus safety infringes children’s right of play and silences their voices on their lives. Wyver et al. (2010, p. 263) argue that the surplus safety is negative to children from both legitimate anger and child development anger. Surplus safety may not substantially build the child-friendly
Public Spaces provide unique experiences and contribute to the identity of a city. Found as places like plazas, parks, marketplaces, within buildings, lobbies and many more. Public spaces are important to our society and therefore face more arguments in design and construction compared to private spaces.
People who do not have a lot of living space often do not have a lot of play space for their children. Therefore, when the children are trying to utilize their only little space to play, they often get stopped by their parents, saying that “there is no room” or “this is not a place to play” (Bekoff). This causes the absence of play in small environments to conserve space (Ricasata). For instance, a child that is living in a small apartment takes out a huge play tent that he received for his birthday. He sets up the oversized toy in the living room, which only has room for a small sofa and a television. Once set up, the tent takes up so much space that there is little to no space to move. However the boy feels content with what he did, having created his own space to play in. This satisfaction does not last long when the child’s parents tell him to take apart and put away his tent, which he spent a lot of time working on. Lack of space is a huge factor on how some people perceive play as both a waste of space and
When urban planners sit at a table, and they are deciding what actions to take, they look at location as a primary source for putting cities together, with the development of houses, industries, and places for market goods to be sold while always trying to increase the supply and demand. In order to get from one place to the next, transportation methods were created to combat city growth and create valuable mechanisms of transporting goods and services within a market. Individuals determined to make things work within a given city constantly recreate, and challenge the laws of nature to make it fit their vision, because entrepuners want to bring character to cities by making them viable places to reside, consequences such as poverty , death, and poorly developed cities arose. Urban planning for city development is a constant battle between losers in winners in the struggle to manage population growth and the need for its current and future sustainability.
There are places that are constructed for the children and places that children construct. Both are adequate location for children to develop and grow. In the article, Places for Children—Children’s Places, written by Kim Rasmussen, explains the space adults make and assembled for the child is a place of structure called a ‘Place for Children.’ A ‘Children’s place’ is a special place that the child deems important. It is where children can come together and have special experiences, a place with special meaning associated to its location, and children attach feeling to a place. This place is established by the children. (Rasmussen, 2008) This ‘Children’s place’ is an area where the children can
The Play Strategy for Scotland is a national initiative that is very much relevant to my topic. The main aim is to create the best place for children to grow up in Scotland. It also aims to achieve making children able to play safely in their environment. The initiative links to my topic as it identifies the importance of play being a life-enhancing daily experience and its contribution to a happy, healthy childhood. The Play Strategy also protects children’s ability to play. (The Scottish Government, 2013)
In my opinion the outdoor area in any setting is often the childrens’ favourite place to be, as all the natural features engage children’s senses and provide opportunities for hands on learning. By letting children play with sticks, climb trees and roll around on the ground children develop physically and mentally. This is an area where there is often greater freedom and scope to investigate their surroundings and whilst there is exploration there is also very good opportunity to develop gross motor skills through physical activity. Such activities also spark their imaginations (Cooper, a
Furthermore, by introducing shared open spaces with other classes, we can bring out the full potential of the children physically, mentally and emotionally. They will have more sensory play when exposed to a wider range of materials outdoors more often. The importance of sensory play is supported by Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development in the sensorimotor stage which states child’s intelligence is developed by the basic motor and sensory explorations of the world around them.