children

Children

Risk

Mobility

Urban Space

Professor Pia ChristensenInstitute of EducationUniversity of Warwick, UK

Ideas Café 14th October 2008

Background

Children’s lost mobility A time of heightened risk awareness Parental anxiety: ‘stranger-danger’, violence and increasing traffic Greater complexity of children’s everyday lives Concern with children’s and young people’s risk- taking Children’s (and adults) risk engagement is an everyday activity and

management a vital competence and resource Change in children’s activities - from physical active to sedentary inactive Obesity and child health Sustainability and environmental change Contemporary cities - unfriendly places for children - citizenship Later street-debut – social and geographical incompetence

Children and Mobility

Methods:

Ethnography: Children’s own perspectives - experiences, understandings and meanings

GPS tracking and SMS-questionnaire via mobile-phone: Mapping mobility patterns – in actual time

Mobility patterns revealed

“The more cars, the safer it is … really!” Boy, 10 year’s old

The more people, the safer it is!

Why do children choose the large heavily trafficked roads?

Fear of Strangers (adults, young people, dogs) child molester assailant kidnapper

Social reasons - companionship ”Because my friends walk that way”

Pragmatic reasons Time: ‘When I’m in a hurry’

Children’s Risk Lansdscapes

Accident prevention and urban planning need to connect with children’s risk landscapes and practices

Children’s collective mobility:• Children seek companionship through movement (especially with other children) - to and from school and in and around the neighborhood. • The children enjoyed the company of others and the (feeling of) safety that the collectivity provided.

An open question for research on children’s mobility:

A means to increase the monitoring andsurveillance of children? or

A means to create visibility of children’smobility patterns and increase their influence on urban planning and the recognition of children as citizens in the city?