Alice Ferguson’s Post

Advice: Making streets more child-friendly’ - Placemaking Streets need to be designed so that they are not just traffic corridors, but are social spaces where young people feel safe and can have fun. The needs of children have gained prominence recently among politicians in the UK. The The House of Commons levelling up housing and communities select committee set up in November (https://lnkd.in/eivataBR) an inquiry into how the built environment could enhance the health and wellbeing of children and young people. The committee is seeking evidence and examples from practitioners of policy and good practice that are improving children and young people’s experiences in the built environment. Below are five key ideas for making streets child friendly. 1. Consider neighbourhoods as a whole Rather than looking at individual streets, councils need to review neighbourhoods and the way children can move independently around them. #FreerangeUrbanNeighbourhoods #FUN 2. Reduce car parking and widen pavements Pavements outside the home can be the first opportunity for unsupervised exploration by younger children. Councils should look at widening them, which may involve reducing the number of car parking spaces 3. Engage and understand children Infant and primary school children can give useful insights into how their streets can be improved. Planners and civil engineers need to look at streets through the lens of children and young people. Streets feel a lot different when you’re only 95cm tall. 4. Promote play streets Residential streets should be seen as the extension of children’s home where they can play out safely. Councils can encourage communities to set up play streets by making it easier for them to get streets closed. 5. Focus on routes to school Routes to school can provide a focus for improving children’s experience of streets because there is a clear group of young people who will benefit. After school the children can continue to play on the street. School streets can become oases of play and interaction among children. Where it is not possible to close roads around schools because they are on major roads, councils should look at widening the pavements #Playce #Splace #PlayStreets #StreetPlay #SchoolStreets #FreePlay #KnowBallGames #PlaySufficiency #UNCRC 🏫🚸🌿🍁🍂🪵 🚲 🛴 🛹🛼 🛝 🏃🏼♂️🏃🏼♀️🏃🏾👩🦽🚴🏿🚏🚶🏻🤸🏾♂️🤸🏼♂️🌳🏘️

Play is a biological imperative for every child and lays a foundation for their healthy future! One of our biggest learning from the #NurturingNeighbourhoodsChallenge journey is that, for children, PLAY is SIMPLE! It can be #anything, #anywhere and #everywhere. Enjoy the thread below to see some interesting stories around #play which is more about #splashing water, #chasing squirrels, #talking to plants, #creatingstories from memories and making friends with new people and #not much about #playequipments! We need to create neighbourhood #publicspaces that are #safe, #accessible, #green, open and explorative which stimulates play and let the children be themselves! This will support children's play, exploration and cognitive development. Enhanced social interaction with surrounding environment enables children in creation of complex play narratives, risk taking behaviours and verbal and non verbal communication skills such as negotiation skills in children. WRI India International Play Association (IPA World) Chaitali Patil Sudipto Barua Arunima Sen Arunima Saha Visakha K A Amy Rachel Joseph Gokul Kalaimathi Kshitija Pendharkar Suhani Gupta Anushree Patil Nikita Pal Sai Ravichandra Gollavilli Rama Thoopal

#NurturingNeighbourhoodsChallenge Photo Stories Ever wondered how young children (aged 0-5 years) navigate the city? Do they see it as we do, or do they perceive it differently? Think about how adults avoid water puddles, while children see them as an opportunity for play. We want to hear your stories and see your photos showcasing play in the city. Share places where you spot play in one of the following ways: 1️⃣ Everyday Play: Capture what attracts your child in a daily play spot. 2️⃣ Unusual Play: Show how children interpret play in unstructured or imaginative ways. 3️⃣ Nostalgic Play: Share places where you played as a child, now rarely seen as play spaces. Share your photo capturing children aged 0-5 playing with a short description in the comments below. We would love to hear from you! This will help inform our work of making cities more young children-friendly. The world will celebrate 11th June 2024 as the first International Day of Play, underscoring the importance of play in a child’s life. Together, let's share some insightful stories and celebrate the magic of play! #EarlyChildhoodDevelopment #EarlyChildhoodMatters #Urban95 #UrbanPlanning #PublicSpaces #UrbanPlanning #UrbanDevelopement #NNCStoriesofChange

Earlier today I had a conversation/interview with WORT FM about safety measures regarding retention ponds. One of the questions I was asked about is what kind of pushback I’ve gotten. Part of my reply was: "The biggest thing is for us to think holistically about what it means to offer community care." Designing and improving current developments to be more child friendly (such as safer) is only one of the many ways that we can offer community care. Real people live in our cities. We shouldn’t be so disconnected from our humanness that we stop looking at each other as humans who require care. Listen: https://bit.ly/490klfH

Accessible Parking Spaces are probably one of the most cited ADA/Accessibility complaints and there are many details to get right. A good place to start is looking at at Access-board.gov. See the link below. Getting a ADA/CASp Inspection of your entire property will provide you with a confidential report that identifies the conditions that are non-compliant. https://lnkd.in/g6zMk8in

How different would the lives of children - and their parents and other carers - be if they could travel safely around their neighbourhoods? In 'A Pattern Language', researchers mapped out different ways of designing spaces (from cities down to windowseats) that work well for people. I particularly love Pattern 57, which imagines a system of bicycle paths " that is extra safe---entirely separate from automobiles, with lights and bridges at the crossings, with homes and shops along it, so that there are always many eyes on the path. Let this path go through every neighborhood, so that children can get onto it without crossing a main road. And run the path all through the city, down pedestrian streets, through workshops, assembly plants, warehouses, interchanges, print houses, bakeries, all the interesting "invisible" life of a town - so that the children can roam freely on their bikes and trikes." What would it look like for children to be able to get to school by themselves from an early age? To visit friends, or run errands, or even just explore the city themselves?

Such a good idea

What kids learn: "Why sharing is important. Children learn to share so they can make and keep friends, play cooperatively, take turns, negotiate and cope with disappointment. Sharing teaches children about compromise and fairness. They learn that if we give a little to others, we can get some of what we want too." Happy to see that cities also share and care.

We were absolutely amazed.... At the amount of detail and how the young people were able to share their ideas so well. They highlighted three areas outside Farley Community Centre that wanted to see changed. The young people are currently working on a environmental project, where they are looking at their local area and sharing what they would like to see changed. They created three A3 Mood boards to show their ideas in a visual way. Each mood board covered a different area. These area were. 1. New green space to be improved with tables, chairs and new plants. 2. New playground area with new equipment. 3. Two new murals to replace the old one. Here is a video of one of the young people sharing some of her ideas. Youth voice, young people who are making a difference in their community. If you would like to book your child to attend the next session. You can book your place by completing the booking form using the link   https://lnkd.in/eFG-4CxX Any questions contact info@developwisecic.org.uk

Far too many people struggle to find and stay in decent, affordable homes. Evictions destabilize families. Unsafe conditions disrupt people’s lives and health. Tenants struggle to assert their rights. These harms disproportionately impact women of color and their children, the product of racial injustice in housing policy. Often compounding these historical injustices is the power imbalance between landlords and tenants in housing court. In our housing resource hubs, we help residents get the crucial public benefits, and services, and information on their rights that they need and guide them through the process of navigating the housing court system. Learn more about our housing work here: https://lnkd.in/etiscCdv