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Creating Better Cities with Children and Youth - A Manual for Participation
Extract of actual circular from the Ministry of Environment, Norway (T-1/95)
the whole circular in Norwegian
Norwegian National Policy Guidelines for the Interests of Children in Planning
(children = 0-18 years of age)
1. National objectives for the developmental environment for children and young people
2. The purpose of the National Policy Guidelines is to promote the interests of children and adolescents in planning NB! Provide a basis for evaluating cases where the interests of children and adolescents interfer with other considerations or interests.
3. Responsibility: The Ministry of Environment has the overall responsibility for a general follow-up. The county municipalities, in consultation with the County Governor, shall advice the municipalities and give them necessary support to safeguard the interests of children and adolescents in the planning work undertaken by the municipalities in accordance with section 4 and 5 of these guidelines. If necessary in order to comply the intensions of section 5, raise objections to the municipal master plan and to a local development plan or a building development plan.
4. Requirements concerning the municipal planning process. The municipality shall:
a. Assess the consequences for children and adolescents when considering planning and building cases in accordance with the Planning and Building Act.
b. Undertake a total evaluation of the developmental environment of children and young people in order to incorporate objectives and measures into municipal planning in general.
c. Prepare guidelines, provisions or by-laws concerning the size and quality of areas of land and installations that are important for children and young people, and that shall be safeguarded in any plans that affect children and young people.
d. Organize the planning process to make sure that point of view concerning children as the affected party are highlighted and that different groups of children and young people are given an opportunity to participate themselves.
5. Requirements concerning physical layout and design. The following shall be awarded special attention:
a. Areas of land and installations that are to be used by children and adolescents shall be protected against pollution, noise, danger from traffic and other hazards to health.
b. Areas shall be set-aside in the local environment where children can express themselves and create their own play environment.
c. Land for daynurseries.
d. When another use is made of areas of land which have been defined in the plans as areas for common use, or as areas for open-air recreation, and these areas already are in use or are suitable as areas for play, a fully satisfactory substitute must be found.
Eva Almhjell comments the guidelines
These guidelines are of unique importance for all of us working with regard to childrens interests in the land-use planning in Norway. The purpose of the National Policy Guidelines is to promote the interests of children and adolescents in carrying out planning pursuant to the Planning and Building act. NB! "Provide a basis for evaluating cases where the interests of children and adolescents interfere with other considerations or interests." "The Guidelines are based on the actual use of area, or the value of the area as a place to play and to go to, and not on the formal conditions applying to the land, or the design category of land use. What is relevant for children and adolescents is the value of the area for play or other purposes, and not the purpose for which it is actually designed, whether it is included in a Local Development plan or not, or who owns it." Children and young people live in municipalities. There is just one original for each of them. No copies can be made! Allthough professionals and others often act as if… Municipalities therefore have the responsibility for implementing the National Guidelines in all municipal planning issues. The County Councils have the responsibility for advising municipalities, together with the County Governor, and raise objections to municipality plans if necessary. And the Ministry of Environment has the overall responsibility for general follow-up (in close collaboration with other relevant Ministries). The Planning and Building Act (Selected §§) § 2 Purpose -."When carrying out the planning pursuant to this Act, special emphasis shall be placed on securing children a good environment in which to grow up."- § 16 Consultation, publication and information in-Affected individual persons and groups, shall be given an opportunity to participate actively in the planning process-lt Other §§§ are also of importance, working with land-use-issues for children and youth, but will not be elaborated on here. You will find The planning and building act on the following website: http://www.odin.no The Public Administration Act (selected §) § 17 (the administrative agency´s duty to clarify the case and to provide information) in-The administrative agency shall ensure that the case is clarified as thoroughly as possible before any administrative decision is made.
Rikspolitiske retningslinjer (RPR) for å styrke barn og unges
interesser i planleggingen
Regjeringen har vedtatt noe som heter "rikspolitiske retningslinjer for å styrke barn og unges interesser i planleggingen". Dette gjorde Stortinget i 1989 fordi barn og unges interesser ikke ble godt nok tatt vare på i kommunenes planleggingsarbeid. Retningslinjene sier noe om hvordan kommunen skal planlegge for å ta vare på barn og ungdom sine interesser, men de sier også noe om hvordan områder som barn og ungdom bruker skal være. Kommunen har plikt til å innarbeide retningslinjene i sine planer.
Utdrag fra aktuelt rundskriv fra Miljøverndepartementet (T-1/95)
hele rundskrivet
2. Formålet med rikspolitiske retningslinjer (RPR) for å styrke barn og unges interesser i planleggingen
Formålet med disse rikspolitiske retningslinjene er å:
a. Synliggjøre og styrke barn og unges interesser i all planlegging og byggesaksbehandling etter plan- og bygningsloven.
b. Gi kommunene bedre grunnlag for å integrere og ivareta barn og unges interesser i sin løpende planlegging og byggesaksbehandling.
c. Gi et grunnlag for å vurdere saker der barn og unges interesser kommer i konflikt med andre hensyn / interesser.
3. Ansvarsforhold
Ansvaret for å ivareta intensjonene og kravene i disse retningslinjene tillegges følgende instanser:
a. Miljøverndepartementet har overordnet ansvar for generell oppfølging, utvikling og veiledning i forhold til disse retningslinjene. Ansvaret skal utøves i nært samarbeid med andre berørte departementer.
b. Fylkeskommunene skal, i samråd med fylkesmannen, så langt det er mulig veilede og gi kommunene nødvendig støtte til å sikre barn og unges interesser i kommunens planarbeid i henhold til pkt. 4 og 5 i disse retningslinjene. Fylkeskommunen og fylkesmannen skal, der det er nødvendig for å ivareta formålet med pkt. 5, gi uttalelse og eventuelt framsette innsigelser til kommuneplan og reguleringsplan / -bebyggelsesplan. Fylkesmannen skal ved utøvelse av sin virksomhet etter plan- og bygningsloven påse at kravene til behandling i pkt. 4 er ivaretatt.
c. Kommunene skal sikre at pkt. 4 og 5 i retningslinjene blir ivaretatt og klargjøre hvor i kommunen ansvaret med å følge opp retningslinjene skal ligge.
4. Krav til den kommunale planleggingsprosessen
Kommunen skal:
a. Vurdere konsekvenser for barn og unge i plan- og byggesaksbehandlingen etter plan- og bygningsloven.
b. Foreta en samlet vurdering av barn og unges oppvekst- miljø for å innarbeide mål og tiltak i kommuneplanarbeidet.
c. Utarbeide retningslinjer, bestemmelser eller vedtekter om omfang og kvalitet av arealer og anlegg av betydning for barn og unge, som skal sikres i planer der barn og unge er berørt.
d. Organisere planprosessen slik at synspunkter som gjelder barn som berørt part kommer fram og at ulike grupper barn og unge selv gis anledning til å delta.
5. Krav til fysisk utforming
Følgende skal vies spesiell oppmerksomhet:
a. Arealer og anlegg som skal brukes av barn og unge skal være sikret mot forurensning, støy, trafikkfare og annen helsefare.
b. I nærmiljøet skal det finnes arealer hvor barn kan utfolde seg og skape sitt eget lekemiljø. Dette forutsetter blant annet at arealene: - er store nok og egner seg for lek og opphold - gir muligheter for ulike typer lek på ulike årstider - kan brukes av ulike aldersgrupper, og gir muligheter for samhandling mellom barn, unge og voksne.
c. Kommunene skal avsette tilstrekkelige, store nok og egnet areal til barnehager.
d. Ved omdisponering av arealer som i planer er avsatt til fellesareal eller friområde som er i bruk eller er egnet for lek, skal det skaffes fullverdig erstatning. Erstatning skal også skaffes ved utbygging eller omdisponering av uregulert areal som barn bruker som lekeareal, eller dersom omdisponering av areal egnet for lek fører til at de hensyn som er nevnt i punkt b ovenfor, for å møte dagens eller framtidens behov ikke blir oppfylt.
6. Endringer i retningslinjene
Mindre vesentlige endringer i retningslinjene kan foretas av departementet.
BARN OG UNGES INNFLYTELSE I NÆRMILJØET
The Influence of Children and Youth in the Neighborhood (Norwegian version only)
Direktoratet for Naturforvaltning
FORSLAG FRA UNGDOMMENS DEMOKRATIFORUM
Relevant local web-sites (Scandinavian):
The Porsgrunn Project (Norwegian web-site with english version) Porsgrunn city has since 1991/1992 tried to develop methods to get children and youth to participate locally. This is done during the city's long-range planning, physical planning and within different departments. During the winter of 1995/1996 a book and a videotape with the ideas, efforts, methods and experiences from the Porsgrunn project was published. The Porsgrunn Projects main goal is to strengthen local democracy. This means developing a positive identity, a feeling of belonging and a habit of participation. The main goal is to make use of the children's and youth's own resources and competence to engage the grown-ups, because the children are engaged. (Norwegian version) Contactperson: Kjell Lillestøl.
Tools for participatory planning with children and youth
School and Environment (Norwegian) Norsk Form - Norwegian Centre for Critical Eye upon Architecture and Environmental Planning. Will there be an English version? Contactperson Annichen Hauan, e-mail: annichen.hauan@norskform.no
Socialt Boligbyggeri`s Ungdomsklubber Social Housecooperative`s Youthclubs Danish Web-site (No English version)
Tingbjerg Recreative Center (Danish website with English version). Contactperson Tingbjerg: Jens Haagen Andersen, e-mail: jha@koebenhavn.mail.telia.com
Relevant International Web-sites:
Creating Better Cities with children and youth GUIC-Project
Short notes about the Manual for Participation by David Driskell, in collaboration with members of the Growing Up in Cities Team
Forthcoming from Earthscan Publications and UNESCO Creating Better Cities with children and youth A Manual for Participation by David Driskell, in collaboration with members of the Growing Up in Cities Team.
Creating Better Cities with Children and Youth is a "how to" manual for promoting young people's participation in urban planning, design, and implementation. It is an invaluable resource for architects, planners, municipal officials, development professionals, and anyone interested in creating more child-friendly, humane urban environments and in involving young people in the process. Children in Buenos Aires, Argentina, construct a model for a new community park after conducting a site evaluation, interviewing their neighbors, and drawing their design ideas The manual was developed through the Growing Up in Cities project, an eight-country UNESCO study that promotes young people's participation in evaluating the impacts of urbanization on their lives, and in developing and implementing appropriate responses.
The Child and Youth Friendly Communities Project
Child and Youth Friendly Communities
Evergreen, Canada
Environment as an Integrating Context for Learning
European Federation of City Farms (EFSF)
Adventure Playgrounds And City Farms in Berlin Links
AKiB is a federation of adventure playgrounds and cityfarms in Berlin. It is also lobbying for playspace for children and young people in the new German capital. Founded in October 1994 as a result of 10 years of work of a loose network of adventure playgrounds and city farms it is a federation representing its members, but also a medium for qualification and information for children and adults imvolved in the playwork scene. AKIB is a cooperative network of playworkers supporting their struggle for adequate pay and qualification as well as public acceptance of their specific kind of pedagogical work AKIB is a nongovernmental, selforganized service structure working mainly on a voluntary base AKIB is member of the Bund der Jugendfarmen und Aktivspielplätze AKiB is cooperating with the European Federation of City Farms and has a close relationship to The Cityfarmer and the American Association of Community
Gardens AKIB is offering: PLATZ DA - a periodical on playwork, playscape projects and related topics OASEN IN DER GROSSSSTADTWÜSTE - a series of annual conferences on new trends in playwork as well as an exibition on playwork, adventure playgrounds and cityfarms in Berlin LANDESARBEITSKREIS - a monthly open forum attended mostly by Berlin playworkers (every second wednesday of the month) BERLINER MATERIAL - a catalogue of standards and services in adventure playgrounds an cityfarms ON REQUEST: counselling and information for new initiatives, local political representatives as well as educational facilities from day care centers to universities
Kløvermarken Nature School, in the heart of Copenhagen
In the heart of Copenhagen you will find a nature playground where children and adults can play, learn or just stay on their own terms. Like a little pearl in the city the green paradise is situated between the external wall of Christianshavn and Kløvermarksvej (Kløvermarks road). The 1,7 acres contains an ecological established nature playground with and ecological built demonstrationhouse. On weekdays this place is much in use by pupils and children from daynurseries. The main purposes of the place are to give the children possibilities to experience, discover and explore both the great and the small mysteries of nature, and thereby get insight and understanding of the ecological connections.
I hjertet av København er det laget en naturlekeplass hvor barn og voksne kan leke, lære og være. Som en perle i storbyen ligger stedet mellom Christianshavns ytre voll og Kløvermarksvej. Området Kløvermarken er på 7 mål og framstår som en økologisk etablert naturlekeplass samt et økologisk bygget demonstrasjonshus. På hverdager er dette et mye brukt ekskursjonsområde for skoleelever. Hensikten med det hele er naturligvis at barna skal få oppleve, oppdage, undersøke og utforske naturens store og små mysterier, og dermed få innsikt og forståelse for naturens økologiske sammenhenger.
Matti Bergström
Google for: Matti Bergstrom, Matti Bergstrøm, Matti Bergström
Leka för livet
Entusiasm är det klister som får kunskapen att fastna, sa professor Matti Bergström när han inledningstalade vid ett seminarium om datorer och inlärning i Stockholm. - Skolan hämmar entusiasmen. Information och ordning sätts i första rummet. Men med datorernas intåg i skolan öppnas nya möjligheter för hängivenheten, leken och fantasin, menar professor Bergström.
Matti Bergström är en finländsk hjärnforskare och läkare, som har ägnat en stor del av sitt liv åt att studera hjärnans utveckling. I slutet på mars besökte han Stockholm, bland annat för att medverka vid Conferators seminarium Lära med dator. Matti Bergström är kritisk till dagens skola. - I skolan hämmas entusiasmen och gynnas kunskap och ordning på ett sätt som hindrar individernas allsidiga utveckling, säger han.
Hans uppfostringsfilosofi och pedagogiska idé grundar sig på modern forskning om hjärnans kapacitet och utveckling. Utgångspunkten för hans idéer är att om vi gör det mesta möjliga av hela hjärnans förmåga, har vi gjort det bästa vi kan för barnens väl och för vår gemensamma framtid.
Trädtoppspedagogik Med utgångspunkt från de principer som styr hjärnan rekommenderar Matti Bergström en omvänd pedagogik, den så kallade "Trädtopps- pedagogiken". Den utgår från att barnets entusiasm är drivkraften bakom lärandet. - Om ett barn vill klättra i träd ser hon/han först trädets topp. Om trädet är högt blir det spännande att klättra. Spänningen och entusiasmen vägleder sedan barnet till målet och de kunskaper som behövs för att nå till toppen kommer med automatik tack vare den inneboende lusten och kreativitet. - Det finns alltid en port till entusiasmen. Den behöver inte stimuleras fram. Den ska bara släppas loss, säger han.
Datorerna ger nya möjligheter Med datorernas intåg i skolvärlden ser Matti Bergström nya möjligheter för entusiasmen och lekfullheten. - Datorn är ett utmärkt verktyg för barns skaparglädje och inlärning. I datorn får barnen tillgång till en virtuell verklighet som i många stycken liknar deras egen fantasivärld. I den virtuella verkligheten kan barnen föra in de moment av fantasi och oordning som behövs för att hjärnan ska utvecklas allsidigt och kunskapsnivån ska nå nya höjder. En förutsättning är givetvis att leken och kreativiteten får fritt spelrum och inte hämmas av givna former och normer.
Ordning och oordning Fantasi och lek bör uppmuntras långt upp i skolåldern, menar Matti Bergström. Det är av stor betydelse för barnens utveckling vilket sammanhänger med hjärnans uppbyggnad och det sätt på vilket vi använder den. Hjärnans uppgift kan sägas vara att förmedla kontakten mellan människans inre och yttre miljö. Den kan ses som bestående av tre delar: stammen, barken och det limbiska systemet. Barken förmedlar kontakten mellan hjärnan och den yttre miljön och representerar ordning, logik och information. Stammen som kommunicerar inåt, reglerar bland annat medvetenhet och entusiasm och representerar oordning och kaos. I samspelet mellan denna den vetenskapliga barken och den humana, mer primitiva stammen uppstår Jaget. Jaget, som finns i det limbiska systemet, är ett resultat av mötet mellan ordningen i barken och oordningen i stammen. Matti Bergström menar att vår civilisation, våra pedagogiska metoder och vårt sätt att uppfostra vår barn tar sikte på att utveckla de delar av hjärnan som lär oss att behärska vår yttre miljö. Behovet av att kommunicera med den inre miljön har fått stå tillbaka. Konsekvensen av detta blir, enligt Matti Bergström, att vi riskerar att utvecklas till, vad han kallar, värdeinvalider.
Värdeinvalider Kännetecknande för värdeinvaliditet är avsaknad av helhetssyn och oförmåga att prioritera och värdera. Värden uppkommer, enligt professor Bergström, i en kamp mellan kaoset i stammen och ordning i barken. Matti Bergström menar att den hotfulla utvecklingen i vårt samhälle kan bero på att vi har försummat att utveckla hjärnstammen och vi har inte lärt oss hur vi skall utnyttja kunskapen. Förmågan att se möjligheter, att göra urval, värdera och att se helheter är kapaciteter i hjärnan som skolan måste utveckla. "Dessa humana resurser kan anses avgörande för människans och mänsklighetens framtid", skriver han i inledningen till sin bok "Neuropedagogik - En skola för hela hjärnan".
Maria Toll (freelance journalist)
Matti Bergström höll det refererade föredraget vid konferensen Lära med dator, arrangerad av Conferator Marknadsanalys AB.
The Mind and the Brain
By Elsa-Brita Titchenell
For years biologists and neurophysiologists have been tracking the elusive human mind by examining the functions of the brain and trying to make the connection between the ongoing phenomena of mentation, creativity, and judgment, and the physical organ in which these properties are believed to inhere. Dr. Matti Bergstrom is Professor Emeritus of Physiology at the University of Helsingfors, Finland, and docent of Bioelectronics at Helsingfors Technological Institute. He is a member of the Finnish Academy of Sciences and of the World Academy of Arts and Science and a prolific author of works on neurophysiology, most of them in Swedish. In his latest work, Hjarnans resurser -- en bok om ideernas ursprung ("The Brain's Resources -- a Book about the Origin of Ideas" by Matti Bergstrom, Seminarium Forlag, Jönköping, Sweden, 1990.) His primary theme is the paucity in modern society of ethical values and the need for them in human life. Of the two main sources of activity in the brain he dubs the brainstem, which receives sensory stimuli, the "chance generator" while the cortex translates experience into rational information. Between these sources of conscious activity lies an electrical field and in that field "where order and disorder meet is the seat of the ego, the subjective 'I' that governs our behavior" (p. 27) and selects its course of action. He makes an eloquent plea for recognition of the childlike approach to nature as an ensouled whole, wherein all beings are endowed with consciousness and accepted as vital parts of that whole, an attitude which has long been disallowed by materialistic science. He is himself hampered, however, by the scientific limitations which constrain him to attribute to the psyche properties which are really noetic (spiritual) in character. I think the reason we despoil nature is that we have abandoned the childhood belief that nature is ensouled. The customary argument that children cannot understand things aright does not hold true, . . . We need to incorporate in our thinking the child's approach. Only then can we have a complete view of nature. The idea that only we humans have a soul is an egoistic, anthropocentric view similar to racist bigotry: we belittle all that is different from ourselves. Where is the boundary between us and "soulless" nature? -- p. 31 Two of the properties of mankind championed by Dr. Bergstrom are creativity and the assessment of values. Both are in his thesis attributed to the central egoic field where the sensory chaotic impressions of the primitive brainstem meet the rational information-gathering activity of the cortex, to produce the evaluating selective faculty of the ego. Contrasting the analytical, dissociative theories of natural selection with what he terms "natural collection" which he postulates as an important axiom of futurology, he makes a powerful case for a more balanced education of children, which would take into account the child's natural need of more play and less of studied information. In other words the cortical activity has been overemphasized at the price of severe loss of judgment and creativity. Art is shown to be an important part of growth and the freer the better. Although eschewing philosophy as part of a scientific investigation, the author states: The value, significance of all this begins to become apparent: we evolve in order to unite the world we live in into a wholeness. . . . This is why the unifying force, the collective principle . . . assumes ever greater importance in our lives. It becomes apparent in our thirst for peace, accord, and harmony, goodness, a social and religious paradise, love of our fellow humans and nature and an ensouling of nature. . . . Even in our science we wish more and more to be rid of one-sided analysis, divisiveness and disjointed knowledge to create instead a method of research that tends toward synthesis and holism, wholeness and cohesion, where values can coexist without battling each other. We increasingly want the selective forces to serve the collective. -- pp. 147-8 Dr. Bergstrom does not hesitate to tackle the intangible subject of intuition. He associates it with the corpus callosum which separates and connects the right and left hemispheres of the brain, where he places the "I" in an individual, and where the holistic right-brain dynamism encounters the information-laden products of the left hemisphere. Here new information arises from the interaction, "causing creative evaluation to take place, coordinating holistic imagery with detailed logic, esthetics with knowledge, mysticism with conviction" (p. 183). There is an all-too-common assumption that whatever is not physical must ipso facto be spiritual, though it stands to reason that if our familiar matter is indeed a small segment in a vast or infinite range of vibratory frequencies, then we must recognize that while there are octaves superior to what we know as matter, there must exist also ranges of substances that are "inferior" to the physical. Metaphysical realities beyond our cognition must extend in both directions, both "above" and "beneath" the matter with which we deal in the physical world. The dark matter postulated by astronomers is not to be relegated to merely the upper end of the gamut but must extend indefinitely throughout a continuum embracing our visible world within and as a narrow cross section of it. It is questionable if the soul and spirit of humankind can be found by researchers to inhere in the brain at all. More likely is Dr. Bergstrom's conclusion that the higher principles of the human individuality inhere in a psychoelectrical field, surrounding and extending to some undetermined distance from the brain. Dr. Bergstrom refers to a massive array of works by such forward-looking thinkers as Prigogine, Pribram, Sheldrake, and Sperry, and includes an impressive list of his own writings and lectures at prestigious conferences all over the world. Hjarnans resurser is a persuasive document and should be required reading for scientists who aim to understand the human place in our planet's life. This reviewer can only hope that it will be translated into English for the benefit of the many who are not conversant with Swedish. The outcome of his research is brought into focus as a clear demand for a more spiritual, holistic outlook, where sympathy and compassion take the place of competitive aggression and the human race is seen as a whole, an agent in a living world having many parts, all of which can and should cooperate to integrate its separate units in a vital whole. He relies on brain research to support this theme: that we have an enormous responsibility for ourselves and our lives as we must always be able to renew our values, whether commonplace or divine, and concludes with the words: "Only in this manner can we arrive at a valid and complete world view wherein we are a part" (p. 193). (Reprinted from Sunrise magazine, June/July 1991.
REAL PLAY
Asbjørn Flemmen
Real Play is steered by centres of attraction in the brain. It is steered by the genes, our inner guru Supported by a developmental drive, a system of drive at a high energy level. Two features are dominating: 1.The body is much used and with great versatility 2.It is a social activity, a social behaviour, in other words; Real Play is a socio-motor behaviour. That means that there are social drives behind our use of the body But Real Play is dependent on one dominating factor it demands areas, and qualities in these areas In a sum we can say that real play demands movement eldorados movement eldorados in summer environments, movement eldorados in winter environments Real Play - is the name of children's' own movement culture as contrasted to sport or athletics which is the name of the adults' movement culture. For the future of the child's own culture, the distinction between those two phenomena are of great importance. Real play is a phenomenon older than the culture itself. The dispositions for that behaviour is deeply rooted in our biological nature. The genes constitutes the driving system. It is the type of play, and the only one which we have common with other living species. Because of that reason the circumstances around real play, normally, should be relaxed. However, during an evolutionary short time, the ecology of the childhood has dramatically changed in modern societies. The environment seldom gives satisfaction to the needs and the expectations that children have out of their drive to be in activity and their social nature. As a compensation for the lack of areas of nature our main task is to develop play areas that are specially designed with the intention to fulfil the children's needs for excitement and collaboration. The fundament for understanding real play: focus on the movement behaviour, focus on the sensio-motor aspect, focus on the real play as s sosio-motor behaviour.
AREAS OF REAL PLAY
An area of real play must, according to Flemmen, satisfy the following fundamental characteristics of our nature: create activity, create contact, children must be able to do a lot of things together create investigation, children must try to investigate the unknown, both in a social and physical environment, create exploration, children must frequently wish look for the same. In this way they can learn more about themselves, about other children and about the environment create experimentation, children must be given the possibility to alter different aspects of the environment. They must be given the possibilities of their own imagination and creativity create the possibilty of moving the limits of their potential capacity and thus give them the enjoyment of stretching their personal capabilities. Within these frames of thought about play one must show consideration that children have different basic qualifications. Individual differences are a great inspiration for real play, but puts special requirements to the play area. If the play area is for everyone, there is a requirement that All children must be able to choose the activity they wish to do with regards to who they are together with, their earlier experiences, and in respect to this what level of development they are at.
This requires :
1.that the play area is designed in a way where there is a need for the child to use its' basic motoric abilities.
2.that the play area is created in a way that it demands movement from the child and which on a rising scale challenges the co-ordination between its' senses and its' movements.
3.that the play area stimulates the social development of the child
4.that the play area has so many activities that the child does not have to wait, or fight to be able to take part in play activities.
The following should be emphasised: Each activity should involve more than one person at the same time. The children should be able to group themselves in mini-groups: each area ought to consist of many small elements: i.e. soft-tennis, skipping areas, table-tennis , tennis rackets (many of each category). You can find the same quality of play activities several places in the play area One wishes to have a play area where the need for basic, motoric movements are used. One wishes to take care of and provide facilities that will develop the positive elements which already exist in the play area.
Playing in Place: Why the Physical Environment is Important in Playwork
Nilda Cosco, MIG, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA Robin Moore, NC State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to set down some of the theoretical dimensions of the physical environment to encourage playworkers to consider space and its content as a versatile, valuable support in playwork practice. An inviting sense of place allows children to express themselves, to interact and unfold their curiosity for the external world, including relations with the people around them. Place-enhancing processes, activated through play, help elaborate the place beyond the confines of everyday life, providing children with a sense of belonging, identity, and ownership-the culture of the place. The body (our personal, most private space) has a very dynamic relationship to external space that is so commonplace we often gloss over it. As we discover the body-in-space, the body-in-time appears as the companion, helping to complete the totality of body skills. The richer and more diverse the world is, the greater likelihood that places acquire anima locii. Regarding the potential play value of a diverse, changeable physical environment, one could say that a play program can only be as good as its physical environment and the playworkers' skill in managing it to maximize the programming potential with the children. Preamble At the 14th Annual PlayEducation meeting in Ely, UK we presented a three-hour interactive session, the aim of which was to engage in a dialog with a group of playwork practitioners and students, to explore how the physical environment is used in practice and to share some theoretical concepts about its significance as a supporting environment in playwork. The surprising result of this exercise-reinforced by other discussions during the rest of the meeting-was that the role of the physical environment is to a large extent not considered or clearly understood as a dynamic part of the supporting environment in playwork practice. This was not a new result. In similar workshops we have conducted with daycare, kindergarten, and school teachers, our experience has been similar-the potential role of the physical environment seems to be undervalued. Our session started by asking participants to make notes about the "most playful physical environment of your childhood." Results were typical of numerous training workshops we have given in the past. Most participants noted natural places or natural components: the "beach," "woods," "streams," "dirt," "trees." A few mentioned indoor spaces like "attic" and "bedroom." Subsequently, we asked for examples of physical environments participants used in their practice, and very few were offered that corresponded to the personal memories of the participants. Indeed, some had difficulty in understanding the question and one of the discussion groups responded in terms of the activities and social atmosphere they tried to achieve through the playwork program. The apparent lack of understanding or devaluing of the role of the physical environment was very surprising considering its historical taproot in the adventure playground. This very successful model of play provision was based on the dynamic integration of playwork and a highly manipulable, flexible physical environment-and the passionate belief by playworkers in the autonomy and natural wisdom of children, who used the physical environment in their own way as a playful vehicle for creative, socially-positive human development. Johan Huizinga (1950), in his celebrated Homo Ludens, reinforced the principle that truly creative play needs its own time and space: We found that one of the most important characteristics of play was its spatial separation from ordinary life. (p. 19) This paper is to a large degree a response to our Ely session. The aim is to set down some of the theoretical dimensions of the physical environment to encourage playworkers to consider space and its content as a versatile, valuable support in playwork practice. Part of the issue seems to be that playworkers (like teachers in formal education), often consider the physical environment as an "unchangeable given." This may well be because it is the reality of their program settings which consist of spaces controlled by others (an example was given of an adjacent park where the playworker was not allowed to plant a garden with her kids). In this kind of situation, the physical environment is a lost cause, not worth fighting for or even thinking about. Often, the physical environment is the authorized space, given without discussion, without analysis of need or consideration of function. It is therefore not a variable for playwork programming. Rather, it is an adversity to be rejected or taken for granted. Under such circumstances, the spatial discourse (the messages a space communicate through the richness or paucity of its contents) is dominated by play activity without physical grounding-perhaps denied by the non-materialistic personal values of playworkers, for whom the process is more important than the result and the activity more relevant than the space. In Winnicottian terms, the transitional space becomes very one-sided, strongly connected to the interior life of the players. Culture develops but without being grounded in place. Why bother about the space if the activity can happen more or less anywhere? But can it? Every space is different or can be made so. Physical conditions always influence the quality of activity in some way or another. The place where play happens always supports the activity: walls keep the winter cold at bay, a roof keeps us dry, too many steps will stop a wheelchair entering, without appropriate habitat conditions there will be no wildlife present, too much traffic noise will inhibit us hearing each other and so on. Space is the backdrop to play, supplying content, context, and meaning. It is bound to communicate a variety of possible messages to children (Titman, 1994): welcome, dismay, excitement, intimidation, warmth, coldness. Space versus Place There are several "levels of analysis" or consideration in examining the role of the physical environment. The first concerns the difference between space and place. Space is the mere commodity, the square footage, four walls, an entry, and windows to let in light and air. As Kevin Lynch expounded in Image of the City (1961), place is about identity and meaning. An inviting sense of place allows children to express themselves, to interact and unfold their curiosity for the external world including the people around them. What do we see out of the window? An anonymous, noisy street or a beautiful garden full of color? One view adds little to the positive sense of place, the other differentiates the space as somewhere special, as a place separate from ordinary life. What about offering children opportunities to be the makers of their environment? Made by children, the garden adds a layer of special meaning to the place. The erstwhile "anywhere space" is now a unique, loved place in the children's lives. Imagine a space created to maximize a sense of place. Children have painted the entrance with their designs. The welcoming bough of a flowering tree hangs over. Children have hung a sign proclaiming the special name of their place, decorated with their own carefully chosen motifs, perhaps reflecting some historical root of the neighborhood, perhaps pure fantasy. There is a sense of ownership and pride, a feeling of "this is our place." Place = space + meaning. Behind the scenes, skilled playworkers help the children establish group processes, codes of cooperative conduct, rules for settling disputes, access to materials, skills in design and construction, modes of artistic expression. These place-enhancing processes, activated through play, help elaborate the place beyond the confines of everyday life, providing children with a sense of belonging, identity, and ownership-the culture of the place. These important psychosocial dimensions are attached to the physical environment and are facilitated through playwork. The value of the place comes from the interactions between the inhabitants and their interactions with the supporting framework of physical qualities. The play environment comes alive when those interrelationships stimulate tension between the container, the content, and the action of using both. In interpreting the role of the therapeutic garden at the Institute for Child and Adolescent Development, Wellesly, Massachusetts, USA, Sebastiano Santostefano (Moore, 1999), describes beautifully how a designed landscape can provide the necessary link between the inner life of the child and external reality and (in this case) support the healing process of a traumatized child: Each of us has observed a child climb to the top of a rock and, with body erect, experience the power of the meaning "up." Or we may have observed a child crawl into a "cave" formed by the branches of a bush and experience the body as a protective enclosure within which the child finds refuge and fends off attack. (in press) The Body in Multisensory Space The body (our personal, most private space) has a very dynamic relationship to external space that is so commonplace we often gloss over it. Commonplace, yet extraordinary. Space is where the body confronts gravity, where homo sapiens exhibits the genetically perfected skill of moving the upright body in a complex interplay with gravity through the kinesthetic, proprioceptive, and vestibular senses (see box). This interaction plays a fundamental role in the physical development and health of children. Is the floor suitable to gravity play? Is it soft, resilient to falls; does it have inclined planes, places to climb, to balance, to jump? A lawn of soft grass, climbable rocks, stepping stones, climbable trees? The body is as complex as physical space. It is more than a simple body volume, it is the presence of the person in the space. Daniel Calmels (1991), Argentine poet and expert in the interpretation of psychomotor experience, alerts our attention to a careful understanding of the body in space and its different facets. When we speak about the body, it is necessary to chose: between the step, the foot track and the foot. There is always the risk of ending talking about the shoe. (p. 27) The young child interacts with and learns from the physical environment through all the senses: vision, smell, taste, touch, hearing, movement. Watch little children play in the beach . . . Their hands touch lightly a shell or a piece of driftwood and they finger each material with care, investigating, probing, experiencing-with no agenda. They toy with a piece of colored plastic as if it were the rarest of lovely shells, since they are as yet unprejudiced about the comparative value of things. It's a wide-open world full of delights, with waves, breezes, and beach grasses, as carefree and spontaneous as the small adventurers themselves. Joan Erikson, 1988, p. 48) BODY-IN-SPACE Kinesthetic Sense of movement. Knowing where your limbs are when moving whole body. Touching nose with eyes closed, dance, gymnastics. Proprioceptive Sense of position. Knowing where your joints are in space without movement. Knowing where foot and floor meet. Vestibular Sense of gravity and whole body movement. Acceleration / deceleration, sea sickness. Develops throughout life. Explains attraction of swings and slides! In our ever more complex, restrictive urban world, such childhood experiences cannot be left to chance. They can be programmed as interventions in the physical environment that playworkers and kids can create together. Imagine a play place full of light, color, interesting smells, attractive sounds, and many objects and surfaces to touch. Birds sing, music plays; the smell of fresh baking stimulates the stomach, wood smoke makes air visible and stirs the genetic memory of hunters in the unending forest; colored banners measure the wind's force, a windmill turns and puts this natural power to use. Playworkers are needed to help implement these experiences because children need tools, materials, technical advice, and physical assistance-critical aspects of the playwork role. Playworkers use many means to introduce the world to children; especially to those children coming from deprived environments that limit children's involvement in the external world-in flats with limited space, where the TV is on for hours each day; where earphones and loud music protect them from the harsh environment and the negative social interactions it stimulates). We are not against children drifting in boundless cyberspace now and again or plunging into the unexplored limbo of the latest rock-and-roll hit bursting the kid's ears drums. However, we also know that the more direct experiences children have, the more their brains are stimulated. Through direct experience, millions of synapses (brain connections) are established and, as a result, all capacities are enhanced simply because of the increased neuron associations (Hughes, 1999, referring to Sutton-Smith, 1997). Body-in-Time Joan Erikson (1988), talks about the "moulding structures" of time and space that hold the child(ren) and support their body-in-space skills. She discusses the appropriation of space through the senses, and the interrelated experience of time, afforded by the pattern of experience (play activity) in space: the familiar and the mysterious, the rhythm of movement, the passage of seasons, the time of distance, the markings of the sun on one's surrounding as the Earth turns-that shaft of light we dance in, that shady tree that whispers in our eyes about the infinite universe. Watch a small child playing alone. Observe how she attends to the natural forms in her surroundings, and then quite spontaneously becomes the poet-the maker-to give form to the materials within the reach. This is preceded by a testing, a sensual investigation of the matter at hand. Into this activity she pours the energy of her curiosity and her will to do and to make. Thus controlled by the molding structures of time and space and the limitations of muscular sensory coordination, she forms her creation. (Erikson, 1988, p. 68) Moulding structures give boundaries and constraints to play activity and are at the same time the "container" of play experiences. Dealing with these structures helps children to internalize the external world, develop new skills, solve problems, and exercise body/social skills such as cooperation and teamwork. As we discover the body-in-space, the body-in-time appears as the companion, helping to complete the totality of the body skills. The dimension of time appears very early in the sequential rhythm of the mother's heart and continues for everyone inadvertently in the rhythm of our breathing until the last exhalation. The body dimension of time is inevitably associated with the basic rhythms of organic life. Erikson (1988) has said it as well as anyone: We live closely with body time, that earliest timing of which we become aware (regular pulse of heartbeat, breathing rhythm). Our shared sense of time is bound to the cosmos and to the animal world. Just as there is a body time within us as part of cosmic time and affinity, so there is also a body space upon earth within the infinitude of sky space. A child's first discovery of balance on two legs is a wonder to observe. The fear of losing that assured balance is one of the most painful aspects of aging. (p. 69) Diversity of place content is critical because it stimulates activity which, in turn, marks the times and spaces of experience for the child, that become the building blocks of memory. For Ernst Bloch (in Santos, 1997): Time is only because something happens, and where something happens there time is. (p. 115) Building a New Childhood-based Culture The theories developed by Donald W. Winnicott with respect to babies and very young children help us understand more fully the true significance of play as the intermediary process (transitional space) linking the child's internal life to her physical surroundings. Winnicott articulates beautifully, this transitional world of play that exists as a kind of magic hologram embracing child, others, and the physical world. The latter is crucial in providing a grounding to the growth of an authentic culture. The richer and more diverse the world is, the richer the possibilities, the greater likelihood for the development of culture rooted in place and the possibility that places acquire anima loci, "the soul-place... the essential personality of a location" (Pennick, 1996, p.13) We need to start in infancy, to build a new culture based on respect and understanding-for each other, other species, and the planet as a whole. The content and form of play environments can be designed and managed to support that goal. Young children especially learn through their senses. Therefore the physical environment-especially its natural components-is a key support of healthy child development. Since so many children nowadays spend so many hours, months, years in childcare and after school care, the environment of these institutions must be designed to be very dynamic to both keep children engaged in vital day after day activity and to provide appropriate settings as the children age in the same centre. To achieve maximum benefits from the physical environment, child center staff should be able to assume responsibility to keep it "tuned up." How can child center staff be motivated to take on this additional task? To what extend must individual staff be predisposed to this task to feel capable and energized to carry it out? We have three suggestions to inject this process with success. First, a rich, diverse environment needs to be installed inside and outside of the centre. Second, the staff needs to learn to play with the children in / with those environments. Third, a training program needs to be established to deepen and extend the professional skills and understanding of the value of this type of environment. The core of such training would focus initially on shared observations and understandings, and make connections to applied theories in child development. Over time, this in-house "training" will evolve step by step into a collective process of building a new childhood culture worthy of the enormous responsibility of child care professionals to give meaning and sense of identity to each child based on their bonding with the Earth. Differentiation Those like ourselves who work professionally with the physical environment as a programming variable in playwork and who design and manage places from the point of view of children's needs for stimulation and diversity, know that it is much more than a "molar variable." Pennick, 1998, presents a critique of the dysfunctional direction of western lifestyles towards an increasingly monocultural life and reminds us of the wiser and possibly healthier consciousness of our ancestors, in this case the ancient Celtic view of nature as sacred: Modernism recognizes no real spiritual or even physical difference of note between places. Implicit in this view is the tenet that any differences that do exist can be overcome by the power of technology. The effect of this is the innate tendency of modernism to reduce the land to a random series of virtually uninhabitable "nowheres", brought into being by the denial of place. The impersonal nature of industry means that the local earth as provider is no longer honored. Nobody knows precisely where anything comes from, or who made it, or how. It is delocalized and depersonalized, identified only by a trade name and perhaps the country from which it comes. Despite this, each, thing does have an origin. It has its own personal history. It came into being, then was harvested, processed or made by someone, somehow, somewhere, and transported to where it is now. (p. 8) The physical environment has definable observable levels, components, and characteristics that can be differentiated from each other. If the physical environment is deconstructed, what do we find? We have outdoors and indoors and a variety of possible transitional spaces that join indoors to outdoors and provide special opportunities for play that are otherwise more difficult to accommodate. All too common examples are childcare centers and schools where indoor classroom spaces do not open directly into a place where activities like gardening, artwork, and woodworking can happen, that are difficult to do indoors. Outdoors, we find vegetation (herbaceous plants, shrubs, trees, grasses, etc.), ground covers (paving stones, concrete paths, asphalt, lawn, sand, dirt, safety surfaces, wood chips), places to gather (stones, logs, benches, edges of raised planters), topographical changes (grassy slopes, slides, climbing structures), aquatic settings (fountains, streams, bogs, marshes), all manner of loose parts (from flower petals to footballs), drinking fountains, storage, and on and on... These settings and elements (and many others not listed) provide the content of the child's physical world; their spatial relationships to each other gives the form. The physical design of the space has a very strong influence on the type and diversity of play and playwork possible in the space. It can "afford" a lot or a little. Can the content and form of these spaces be managed in collaboration with children in such a way that they evolve into unique, "sacred" places? Specialized, nonformal installations such as urban farms have this potential developed around play and animals. A play garden in a botanical garden may focus on plants as the key content. A playspace focused on the arts would inspire emotional expression in content and forms to support display and performance. Playworkers as environmental managers From our point of view, regarding the potential play value of a diverse, changeable physical environment, one could say that a play program can only be as good as its physical environment and the playworkers' skill in managing it to maximize the programming potential with the children. The more deprived the physical environment is, the more difficult and challenging is the playworker's task and the less likely are the children to have a continuing, fully involving play experience day after day. Playworkers must learn to take charge of their physical space, to lobby for control over it, convince the powers that be to devote resources to enhancing it, and then work with the children to manage it day to day to maximize its play value and vital cultural content. An even more important role for playworkers is that they become facilitators and guardians of the "sacred" spaces of childhood within their realm of responsibility.
References
Calmels, D. 1997. Cuerpo y Saber. (Body and Knowledge). Capitulos de Psicomotricidad, Buenos Aires Erikson, J. M. 1988. Wisdom and the Senses. New York: W. W. Norton. Hughes, B. 1999. Does Playwork have a Neurological Rationale? Ely: 14th. PlayEducation Meeting.
Lynch, K. 1961. Image of the City. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. Moore, R. In press. Healing Gardens for Children. In Cooper Marcus, C. & Barnes, M. Healing Gardens. New York: John Wiley. Pennick, N. 1996. Celtic Sacred Landscapes, London: Thames & Hudson. Santos, M. 1997. A Natureza do Espaço. Técnica e Tempo. Razão e emoção.(Nature of Space. Technique and Time. Reason and Emotion). São Paulo: Hucitec. Sutton-Smith, B. 1997. The Ambiguity of Play. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Titman, W. 1994. Special Places; Special People: The Hidden Curriculum of School Grounds. London: World Wildlife Fund for Nature / Learning Though Landscapes. Winnicott, D. W. 1971. Playing and Reality. London: Tavistock Publications Ltd.