Accommodating Children’s Activities in the Shared Spaces of High Density and Master Planned Developments

Abstract

When we consider the impact of the built environment on children and whether facilities meet their needs, we are usually examining public open space – public parks, streets, wild spaces, outdoor malls. Public open space is essential for children in cities for two clear reasons: the space is open, allowing activities and a sense of freedom that the smaller, indoor spaces which abound in cities prohibit, and it is public, meaning that at least theoretically, it is accessible by all, regardless of age, class, or wealth. It is easy to assume that open space in cities is by definition public, but that is not necessarily the case. The great public parks of Europe typically began life as private royal hunting grounds; London’s squares were almost all built as private gardens accessible only by adjoining land-owners (Summerson 1978), and this model was replicated overseas in developments like Gramercy Park in New York. However, the growth of civil, democratic society from the 17th century onwards forced the aristocracy to share their open urban spaces with the public and provided incentives for the construction of new public open space. Central Park in New York was audacious not just in its scale and form, but in its commitment to provide recreational space to the diverse masses of the city (Miller 2003). In London, during World War II, the iron railings of private squares were removed to be used for ammunition, causing George Orwell to celebrate that “the squares lay open, and their sacred turf was trodden by the feet of working-class children, a sight to make dividend-drawers [ground landlords] gnash their false teeth” (Orwell 1944, pp.175-6). In the post-War period, many railings were not replaced, leaving the squares permanently accessible to the public. In Australia, strong government commitment to freehold housing meant that private open space was always rare, and during the 20th century, suburb after suburb was developed with parks, playing fields and bushland, in public ownership and accessible by all.