Description
Book SynopsisThis timely and thought-provoking book explores children''s lives in modern cities. At a time of intense debate about the quality of life in cities, this book examines how they can become good places for children to live in. Through contributions from childhood experts in Europe, Australia and America, the book shows the importance of studying children''s lives in cities in a comparative and generational perspective. It also contains fascinating accounts of city living from children themselves, and offers practical design solutions.
The authors consider the importance of the city as a social, material and cultural place for children, and explore the connections and boundaries between home, neighbourhood, community and city. Throughout, they stress the importance of engaging with how children see their city in order to reform it within a child-sensitive framework.
This book is invaluable reading for students and academics in the field of anthropology, sociology, social policy and
Trade ReviewTimes Educational Supplement Book of the Week: 'Every one of the 11 essays here contains original insights that couldn't fail to be of interest and value to anyone whose life, professional or otherwise, brings them into contact with children ... the process whereby young children discover and map their surroundings, imprinting locations with memories and associations which in turn help to mould their own sense of identity, is about as fascinating a subject as you could wish to stumble upon between soft covers.' - Times Educational Supplement
'This is a well-written and well-edited reader which deserves to be widely read, not only by students and researchers, but also by people working with children and/or the urban environment such as teachers, architects and planners ... it draws a colourful and diverse picture of children's urban realities regarding home, neighbourhood and community.' - Housing Studies
'A rich and varied collection of chapters, from many contrasted settings. The field is alive and well, and is managing to combine theoretical rigour and methodological ingenuity with a passionate advocacy for the rights of the child in urban society.' - Children & Society
'This is a well-written and well-edited reader which deserves to be widely read, not only by students and researchers, but also by people working with children and/or the urban environment such as teachers, architects and planners ... it draws a colourful and diverse picture of children's urban realities regarding home, neighbourhood and community.' - Housing Studies
'A rich and varied collection of chapters, from many contrasted settings. The field is alive and well, and is managing to combine theoretical rigour and methodological ingenuity with a passionate advocacy for the rights of the child in urban society.' - Children & Society
Table of Contents1. New Perspectives on Children in the City Pia Christensen and Margaret O'Brien 2. Place, Space and Knowledge: Children in the Village and the City Pia Christensen 3. Children's Views of Family, Home and House Gunilla Hallden 4. 'Displaced' Children? - Risks and Opportunities in a Caribbean Urban Environment Karen Fog Olwig 5. Shaping Daily Life in Urban Environments Helga Zeiher 6. Children in the Neighbourhood - the Neighbourhood in the Children Kim Rasmussen and Soren Smidt 7. The Street as Liminal Space: the Barbed Spaces of Childhood Hugh Matthews 8. Neighbourhood Quality in Children's Eyes Louise Chalwa and Karen Malone 9. Reviving Children's Neighbourhoods: What do Children Want? Margaret O'Brien 10. Improving the Neighbourhood for Children: Possibilities and Limitations of 'Social Capital' Discourses Virginia Morrow 11. Planning Childhood: Children's Social Participation in the Town of Adults Claudio Baraldi
