Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: ntil relatively recently, in diverse contexts, children predominantly played on their streets, rather than in parks and playgrounds.1 Streets offer particular and valuable affordances for children's play but also for sociability, 2 and children continue to value their doorstep spaces for play, in preference often to more structured or commercialised spaces.3 Yet, from the present-day perspective of many UK towns and citiesand beyondit can be difficult to imagine that streets were not made for motor vehicles, or that designing and maintaining streets for those vehicles should not be a priority.In fact, streets have always functioned as spaces not only for other forms of mobility, such as walking and cycling, but also for sociality, for dwelling and for play.4 These diverse functions have been defended by advocates of children's play, including especially womenas mothers, campaigners, activists and expertswho have argued that children have both a right to play and a right to the city.5 Children can only ever be passive participants in automobility, 6 yet residential streets and neighbourhoods often form some of the most important spaces in children's everyday lives.For these reasons, children and young people are often most at risk from car dominance, as they are especially vulnerable to road violence, pollution and the erosion of public space, and this is all the more true for children in marginalised and disadvantaged communities.7 "children and young people are often most at risk from car dominance"Children's outdoor play and their mobility are often intricately entangledto find spaces to play and to meet with friends, children have to move, and their everyday mobility (the walk to 1 Cowman K ( 2017) 'Play streets: women, children and the problem of urban traffic, 1930-1970', Social History, 42(9): 233-256; Winder J (2024) Designed for Play: Children's playgrounds and the politics of urban space, 1840-2010, University of London Press 2 Matthews H, Limb M and Taylor M (2000) 'The street as thirdspace', in Holloway S and Valentine G (eds) Children's Geographies: Playing, living, learning, Routledge, 63-79 3 Hart R (2002) 'Containing children: some lessons on planning for play from New York City', Environment and Urbanization, 14(2): 135-148 4 Prytherch D (2022) 'Reimagining the physical/social infrastructure of the American street: policy and design for mobility justice and conviviality', Urban Geography, 43(5): 688-712; Norton P (2008) Fighting Traffic: The dawn of the motor age in the American city, MIT Press 5 Cowman K (2017) 'Play streets: women, children and the problem of urban traffic, 1930-1970', Social History, 42(9): 233-256; Stenning A (forthcoming) 'Playing', in Merriman P and Secor A (eds) The Routledge Handbook of Cultural Geographies; Watson S (2023) 'Housing landscapes and the politics of play: from Parker Morris to Byker, c.1955-c.
Source: IPPR Progressive Review
DOI: 10.1111/newe.12405
Authors: Alison Stenning, Sally Watson
Institutions: University of Newcastle Australia, Newcastle University
Language: English
Subfield: Transportation
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,140
OpenAlex ID: W4404420159