Place-Making a Child-Friendly Urban Environment Through Artworks

Abstract

More recently, concern on children’s well-being, health, mobility and upbringing has been increasingly being discussed. The child of today is the city-maker of tomorrow. Rapid urbanization impacts children the most as they have less access to the natural environment in the city. Moreover, in most developing nations including Malaysia, children opinions are not taken into consideration in the development of urban public spaces such as parks, playfields, streets and plazas. Living in an urban environment is not primarily about people relationship but rather the relationship between people, places and spaces. Realizing this, as the Malaysian urban population rapidly increases, the government and local councils have started to rethink and redesign urban spaces to sustain the basic needs and welfare of its citizen. Since neighborhood streets, public spaces, alleys and loose-fit spaces are essential spaces for children’s exploration and play, place-making is one of the favorite projects that many have chosen to use to create an urban environment that is child-friendly. According to Project for Public Spaces (2011), place-making is an integrative approach to better plan, design and manage the urban environment. It focuses on the cooperation and contribution of local communities to promote their safety and well-being. This paper attends towards children’s artworks impact to create a child-friendly environment in an urban environment. From a review of 50 articles in journals of various discipline which includes Environmental Psychology, Art Education, Urban Sociology, Children Cognitive Functioning and Children Geographies, it is understood that children’s participation in place-making an urban environment are influenced to three attributes: (1)artworks as a mode of place-making for a positive emotional sense-of belonging, (2) active participatory of children in creating artworks could cultivate community bond and social skills, and (3) public sphere are spaces for children to exhibit their sense-of-attachment. The review construes that place-making through art can contribute to create a child-friendly environment that is inclusive, healthy, nurturing and sustainable.