Children live the city

Location: Spodnja Šiška and Centre of urban culture Kino Šiška
Date of performance: 10. october 2018
Organizer Pazi!park Association and Centre of urban culture Kino Šiška
Authors: Urška Kranjc, Gaja Trbižan, Meta Petrič, Andreja Štrukelj Sinčič, Luka Vidic, Sara Čok
Photography: Luka Vidic
The project is co-financed by the City of Ljubljana
The event was supported by Cona plus, Flora Sport, Knauf Insulation, Lappset, Richter Spielgeräte, Arhitekturni biro Štrukelj

Read: 1. novičnik, 2. novičnik, 3. novičnik, 4. novičnik

On Wednesday, October 10, in the co-organization of the Center of Urban Culture Kino Šiška, we successfully held the event Children Live the City, with which we want to contribute to the development of cities friendly to children and young people. The main guest of the conference was the British urbanist Tim Gill (Rethinking Childhood), who reiterated that in a child-friendly city, all residents live better.

Children need four main components to play: space, time, adult support, and the company of friends. That is why it is the task of cities to provide a friendly public space that will be well and safely accessible to children on their own. In Ghent, Rotterdam, Freiburg and some other cities, the arrangement of public spaces tailored to children has also been tackled with the help of children’s infrastructure strategies. The main obstacles that cities have to overcome are related to traffic, currently the main reason for parental care and the long stay of children indoors. “Children are an indicator species for pleasant places, if a city is child-friendly, it is good for others as well. I think you did a wonderful thing here in the center of Ljubljana, which is friendly to people and children, and you belong to the very top. But the challenge is how to reduce traffic, open up space for people, play and have fun in neighbourhoods where people spend most of their lives,” Tim Gill pointed.

The visitors of the event were addressed by the Deputy Mayor of Ljubljana, Prof. Janez Koželj, with a presentation of projects that also classify Ljubljana as a child-friendly city. He pointed that a modern public space must be usable, pleasant, safe, well accessible and inclusive for children of all ages.

As part of the event, for the first time we had a discussion with many Slovenian experts on child development: developmental psychologist dr. Ljubica Marjanovič Umek, pediatrician dr. Tino Bregant, M.Sc. Mateja Urbančič Jelovšek, principal of the Majda Vrhovnik primary school, educator Brigita Urbanija from the Anton Medved kindergarten in Kamnik, dr. Maja Gojkovič from the Department of Preschool Education of the City of Ljubljana and landscape architects dr. Maja Simoneti, from the Institute for Spatial Policy and Urška Kranjc, co-founder of the Pazi! Park association, employed at LUZ, d.d. The guests stressed the importance of spending free time outside, especially unstructured outdoor play, which is very important for the child’s physical, mental and emotional development. The role of parents is especially important in ensuring outdoor living.

PROGRAM

MEDIA FROM THE CONFERENCE

Greetings from Gaja Trbižan, the president of Pazi!park Association