Children see streets differently
From Transport Knowledge Wiki
 Journal article record
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| Title
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Children see streets differently
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| Journal
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 IPPR Progressive Review vol. 31 no. 3
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| Abstract
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Until relatively recently, in diverse contexts, children predominantly played on their streets, rather than in parks and playgrounds. Streets offer particular and valuable affordances for children’s play but also for sociability, and children continue to value their doorstep spaces for play, in preference often to more structured or commercialised spaces. Yet, from the present-day perspective of many UK towns and cities – and beyond – it can be difficult to imagine that streets were not made for motor vehicles, or that designing and maintaining streets for those vehicles should not be a priority. In fact, streets have always functioned as spaces not only for other forms of mobility, such as walking and cycling, but also for sociality, for dwelling and for play. These diverse functions have been defended by advocates of children’s play, including especially women – as mothers, campaigners, activists and experts – who have argued that children have both a right to play and a right to the city. Children can only ever be passive participants in automobility, yet residential streets and neighbourhoods often form some of the most important spaces in children’s everyday lives. For these reasons, children and young people are often most at risk from car dominance, as they are especially vulnerable to road violence, pollution and the erosion of public space, and this is all the more true for children in marginalised and disadvantaged communities.
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| Authors
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 Alison Stenning Sally Watson
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| Date
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 November 2024
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| Keywords and locations
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| Keywords
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 Walking Traffic Inequality
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| Locations
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 United Kingdom
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| How to find and cite this journal article
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| Publication
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 10.1111/newe.12405
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| Access
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This journal article is open access and can be read for free as of 20 February 2025.
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| Citation
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Stenning, A. and Watson, S. (2024), “Children see streets differently”. IPPR Progressive Review.
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