Where should children play? City planning seen from knee-height: Copenhagen 1870-1920

Coninck-Smith, N. de, 1990, Where should children play? City planning seen from knee-height: Copenhagen 1870-1920, in: Childrens Environments Quarterly, 7, 4

  • Author : Coninck-Smith, N. de
  • Year : 1990
  • Journal/Series : Childrens Environments Quarterly
  • Volume Number (ANNUAL: Counting Volumes of the Year shown above) : 4
  • Volume Number (CONSECUTIVE: Counting all Volumes of this Journal ever published) : 7
  • Pages : 54-61
  • Abstract in English : In the late 19th century, as the population of Copenhagen swelled, city leaders and educators were faced with the problem of how to accommodate space for children within the city. Central tom their debate were Spencer (1861) theories and his arguments that play was of crucial importance to children’s physical and moral development. Seeking to direct the child to orderly activities, adults constructed the school, the playground, and the sandbox. The cost of these changes was that children’s free space was progressively reduced. During the past 10-15 years, planners and city dwellers have been questioning the basic tenets behind the building of playgrounds: the unrestrained supremacy of traffic and the lack of confidence in children’s own behaviour and play. The street is coming back a space of opportunities. This discussion of children’s free space have it made it relevant to look back in time a little.
  • Comments/Notes : KEYWORDS: children, play, urban development, history. UTILITY: lecturers/teachers, academic research, students of universities of professional education.