Abstract
This conceptual article proposes streets and young children as part of the same liveliness through new materialist non-binary conceptualisations of urban childhoods. It addresses liveliness in urban planning and design thinking, and as part of early childhood geographies and education particularly in more-than-human, non-anthropocentric, common worlds views. Time people spend out contributes to the liveliness of streets, enhances the immediate environment and reduces damage to the global environment. Sustainable living in measures to curb climate change means being out of the car, walking and playing. It is child-friendly and relevant for whatever income-level. Locally and globally, physically and socially, educational experiences cross the boundaries of school walls. Early childhood pedagogies have a part to play in liveliness that is not-only man made but grows together in playful dialogue with the material world. Recommendations urge early childhood pedagogies and urban planning initiatives to attend more to children as part of the lively streets in the public realm, particularly in children’s local neighbourhoods. Furthermore this should be a common effort to be more explicitly aware of how more-than-human affecting and being affected by happens in dialogue in-between children and material of the built environment. The permeating nature of liveliness is constituted together not separately and entails participation together.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Children's Geographies |
| Publication status | Submitted - 24 Aug 2021 |
Keywords
- walking
- streets
- urban planning
- early childhood
- education
- New Materialism