Spaces play a key part in shaping social interactions
and relationships. Thinking critically about work with
children, young people and families, should involve
reflecting on practice through examining particular
cultural, social and physical spaces.
Seen and Heard – reclaiming public space for the young
Demos -This video makes the point that the use of public
space is connected with both the concept of modern
childhood and the kinds of relationships between adults and
children that we develop.
Demos argues that the issue of public space is
not better playgrounds or more playing fields, but
the impact of the sharing of public spaces on
people’s quality of life.
It is, they suggest, the unstructured use of
public space that is important. Demos goes on
to suggest, and you may agree or disagree with
this, that some of the bigger aims of society and
social policy, including urban regeneration,
poverty and sustainable communities, will be
undercut if this issue use of public spaces is not
addressed.
Thinking about spaces involves thinking about how
children’s and young people’s spaces influence the
formation and maintenance of relationships between peers
and with adults. It means looking at how the production of
spaces involves constructing both a place and a place in a
society.
Michael Rosen’s programme, ‘The people in the playground’
audio - Michael Rosen’s programme reveals the continuing
social and cultural roles of school playgrounds, with their
traditions, both old and new, co-existing. These are still places
where the social lives of children are played out and where
children’s culture, their games, their stories, their codes and
their language are created. One of the examples discussed in
this audio is how a game which causes arguments has
evolved its own set of social rules. Lunchtime supervisors
‘school buddies’ and ’pals’ also talk about how the playground
operates as a social space with its own rules.
Children in hospital beds were often unhappy because
they were not tucked in at night how they preferred and
there was not enough space in their beds for toys. -
This could be improved by asking children how they
wanted their bed made and perhaps putting a chair next
to the bed for their teddies to make it feel more like
home.
The Evelina Children’s Hospital - example of good space
Spaces matter, Horton et al. argue, because they
are complex products of interrelations and
interactions; they are the products of interrelations
and they shape social interactions. They are
essentially mobile and fluid: people, things, and ideas
flow within and between spaces
Places and spaces also matter because it is often in
the ordinary, small-scale, frequently unnoticed places
and spaces that practices and services most affect
children and young people. They also matter
because it’s important to understand how spaces are
experienced by different children and young people.
Horton's Chapter argues -Within the space that we
live, there are also smaller “microgeographies” within
these environments, for example the sofa or the bed.
These smaller, everyday environments are often very
important when working with children and young
people to help practitioners understand their issues,
needs and experiences
Small adjustments to these microgeographies
can make a big difference to the child's happiness
and well-being
Microgeographies are often overlooked because
practitioners have many more important issues to consider,
however creating good, practical microgeographies for the
children using them can create happy more content children in
the long run meaning these areas are actually very important
Bean bags placed next to a toy which more boisterous
children preferred. This is not good next to the quite area
of the beanbags as this could upset the children that just
wanted to sit down and relax. - This could be improved
by moving the more boisterous toys to another part of the
nursery away from the quite area, that way both the
boisterous and quite children would be happy.
Groups of young people in public spaces
are easily seen as a threat whether they are or
not – the use of space has become an
intergenerational issue.
Specific spaces and areas are often viewed
territorially by young people themselves, whether
they are involved in crime or not
Strategies to prevent groups of young people from
congregating in places deemed unsuitable, such as through the use
of Mosquito devices which emit a noise irritating to young people
(and only young people).
The surveillance of public space via CCTV cameras is an
issue that affects us all, as their use has grown rapidly in the
UK in the 21st century. However the scrutinisation of young
people and their use of space is even more explicit.