RE-CONCEPTUALISING RISKS TO VIEW CITIES AS SITES FOR CHILDREN'S EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

Abstract

Our cities are sites for experiential learning, but children have been losing opportunities to independently develop cognitive, social, physical and spatial skills gained from exploring urban areas. They are also losing opportunities to develop broader urban confidence and proficiency from learning to master their environment. In many English speaking and European countries, children's freedom to use and explore their cities on their own is curtailed by the anxiety of carers and policy makers about potential hazards and consequences. Professionals in planning and design fields may unwittingly contribute to images of children as being incompetent to negotiate urban environments. Efforts to include children in urban spaces and places through policies and designs may be unduly influenced by risk management and insurance considerations. When planning and urban design related professionals fail to critique or resist conventional policy responses to risk management, they may unwittingly contribute to images of children as being incompetent to negotiate urban environments. This paper argues that we need to reconceptualise notions of risk, and view cities as sites for children's experiential learning.