Cities for Families - Our conversation at Fremantle Design Week

We are proud to have recently been a part of the first Fremantle Design Week. We were given the opportunity to lead a conversation on a topic that we feel passionately about, designing for children in the urban environment

Globally more and more children are living in urban environments. In Australia 70% of children live in our major cities. With a growing trend towards large single dwellings being built on increasingly smaller land sizes in Perth, the quality of our public realm is critical. Many people who grew up in Perth remember a childhood of exploring a big backyard, roaming free and riding our bikes through the streets with other neighbourhood kids. In our current urban context, the reality of modern childhoods is much more restricted. The many perceived and real risks that our urban landscape poses have created a strong social pressure to ensure children are supervised at all times.

As designers we have a responsibility to push to meet the needs of vulnerable groups within our population. Children are one of these groups. They have a specific set of needs dictated by their size and stage of development. By considering a few key indicators we can make an approximate assessment of the health of an urban area. When we look at whether children have access to nature, the ability to play safely outside and move independently through the city we can start to see where our cities’ infrastructure needs to improve.

“Children are a kind of indicator species, if we can build a successful city for children, we will have a successful city for everyone”

- Enrique Penalosa (Former mayor of Bogata)

The heavy traffic that Perth supports poses a very real threat to the children who live here. Cars dominate the landscape, making it unsafe for children to roam freely. Inadequate footpaths, cycleways and poorly connected suburbs encourage families to choose to drive their car, even for short journeys, rather than venture out on foot. Many of our suburbs are low in density with few walkable destinations.

Another significant deterrent to allowing children to populate the public realm unaccompanied is the fear of ‘stranger danger.’ Children are taught to fear people they don’t know in their neighbourhood which creates an obstacle in building communities. The reality is that 8 in 10 crimes against children are committed by someone that they already know.

The Cubby Playspace

A network of safe streets is the basis of a successful child-centred city. Wide footpaths, well connected seperate cycle lanes and reduced speed limits within neighbourhoods are key. Incorporating a network of healthy mature trees into the active transport network dramatically increases it’s year-round usability. With temperatures being as much as 25 degrees warmer on an unshaded road in summer street, trees are a critical part of a healthy city. A healthy street tree network allows every child to experience nature on a daily basis.

Public open space performs a critical role for communties. Parks, playspaces, sports facilities, pocket parks and even verge gardens all have a place in a healthy city. By Providing public open space that are of a high quality, multifunctional and intergenerational parks become a destination. A successful public open space encourages exercise, social connection and contact with nature.

When space is at a premium, a well designed playground can provide children with the opportunity to interact with nature, test themselves physically, safely explore risk taking and build social bonds.

See Design Studio have designed a number of urban play spaces in Perth to meet these needs. The Walyalup Koort playspace in Fremantle was designed after a lengthy engagement process with local school children. It is a safe creative space for young children to explore and play in the heart of an urban setting.

At Karrinyup our team designed a playspace that made the most of it’s small footprint by building a multi level play experience. The playground is built on a former car park and includes a series of mature trees to provide shade and cooling to the site. This public open space brings together visitors to the shopping centre with the local community.

Child centred urban design benefits more than just families. By default, a child friendly city includes environmental health and improves the health of all community members. Every city dweller benefits from a greener, safer, more accessible and activated neighbourhood.

A network of safe, comfortable streets and public open space.

‘The Cubby’ Playscape at Karrinyup