Cities for Children
The Project
In cities in India today, the processes of urban development and dispensation of public facilities have become seemingly detached from the actual stakeholders of these services. This can be observed to even greater extent when considering children: as future residents of the city, their views and aspirations are surprisingly unaccounted for in urban development plans carried out by the government. This gap can result in a sense of alienation and unaccountability in one’s own city due to the loss of agency and seemingly low impact of one’s opinion.
The child’s opinion is rarely ever taken into account when planning for the future of the city which is a strange thing considering that they are the one’s who will ultimately live in that future. We based our project in the context of Ahmedabad, an ancient city vying for smartness. We questioned ‘smartness’ and discussed how child centric initiatives play an important part of future resilient cities.
This project aims to challenge the barrier between children and policy makers in order to inculcate a greater sense of belonging among children for their own city through their active involvement in the decision making processes.
Nature | Domain
Systems Thinking | Systems Design | Participatory Design | Design Thinking | Field Research | Design for Policy | Urban Planning
Team | Timeline
Indrayudh Sengupta | Binayak Mondal | Subrajit Ghosal | Mridu Jhangiani
Jul ‘17 - Dec ‘17
1.0 Brainstorming wicked problems
Cities for Children emerged from an interest in Space & Psychology
A collective interest in understanding the impact of space on human psychology was the genesis of this project. Research into urban planning and model cities expanded our understanding of this domain. It expressed the importance of a multi-stakeholder perspective for holistic urban development. The deterrent emotional effect of spaces on lifestyles provide strong evidence advocating the indispensability of recreational, open spaces. We re-evaluated the city in humane term & included mapping from a socio-cultural perspective. Ahmedabad city being our base, we wanted to assess our city’s wellbeing.
We measured the city against several metrics only to realize that while most aspects of development focussed on smart city developments, green city plans and future city inclusions, it fails to foresee the future needs of its stakeholders - the children of Ahmedabad. For a city to grow and stay nourished, citizens would need to feel a sense of ownership and belonging, develop a bond and fondness with the place. We focussed on the local context and drew inspiration from case studies across the globe. These 2 parallel research pathways brought to light the need to conduct local research to assess the possibility of our children taking the reins in this direction.
Collaboration with the Riverside school to understand their 5 E's philosophy and current initiatives.
Unfocused research of observing children's thoughtless acts with their immediate surroundings at Diwan Ballubhai school.
City on Wheels : An aProch + MyBike initiative along the Riverfront with the objective of helping children connect with their city on wheels.
A starting point to explore the city and it's happenings. A friendly robot here, waves a flag to begin the expedition.
Connecting the different stakeholders influencing children directly and indirectly. Discovering and comparing stories of children from various backgrounds.
Street SMART : An aProch initiative on the weekends at the Law garden, where the children take over.
A band performing at Street SMART.
Fun games and activities by children, for children.
Conversations with 2 generations of residents from a Mandvi Pole, to understand the changing landscape & it's impact on children today.
Children from urban slums share their worries and wishes from the lack of space to their parents's aspirations for them.
Children putting up a performance to build awareness around social issues.
Children engaging in traditional art & craft. Bringing communities together on a single platform can make any street 'smart'.
Witnessed the first example of co-creation and workshops for children, by children, with children and independent the adult.
THE TAKEAWAYS
A sustainable system that is independent of adults is made possible by the collective community integration on a single platform, such as Street Smart. It validated the possibility of a city event for children, by children and with children. We reflected on ‘smart’ and re-defined the metrics against which we assess smartness. We factored in the diverse personalities of kids and how inclusivity early on is key. Our data evidence pointed towards the discontents of high commercialization. A Day - in - The Life - of - an - Urban - Child today is deeply rooted and influenced by technology, competition, demographic, socio -economic status within the surrounding build environment.
Tools & Methods
Mapping of issues and concerns through 5WH, Context mapping across political. legal. economic, social, technological and environmental, modelling tools to vizualize systems and sub - systems and Empathy Maps.
Research Scope
The scope of this initial research was to map and understand the dynamics of children’s relationships with stakeholders in the city and with the build environment surrounding them. Discovering and comparing stories from across the spectrum built a micro-macro stage of viewing.
We collaborated with aProch, an initiative by the Riverside School. Co - participating in their events - Street Smart and City on Cycles had us witness the first example of co-creation and workshops for children in the city.
Besides this, we also visited to the lesser developed pockets of the city, such as Mandvini pole to understand intergenerational discrepancies and their impact on child development.
Unfocussed, non-intrusive research at Diwan Ballubhai school of observing children in their natural habitats helped us notice micro-interactions and gestures that would otherwise go unseen.
Design Principles & Objective
To create a toolkit and roadmap to develop Ahmedabad and similar cities towards becoming Child Friendly. A framework for all adults, including urban planners and policy makers alike to use as a reference while designing. As designers, we played the role of facilitators in empowering children into decision - making and realizings the change they desire to se through inclusivity and autonomy.
1.1 Children displaying the outcome of a worskshop.
Systems Research
A gamut of sensorial activities added depth to our understanding of Children’s perceptions of the city. Further, teachers validated the ability of children to reflect on these activities in the days that followed at school.
Amusement park, roller coasters, slides made by the younger ones. Afforestation, less pollution, football, cycle paths and sitting areas by the older ones. Fantasy sci-fi is liked by younger kids and peace and nature is preferredby older kids
Varied suggestions - some focussed on safety and emergency issues (shields and bodyguards), some focussed on recreation and entertainment (swings and gardens), others created their own world of fantasy that includes butterflies, cool gadgets, chocolates and other fun things.
Using museum spaces for reaching out. Looking for collaboration. Value exchange. - point of conversation - Emotions, feelings - Empathy whirlpool
1.1 Team of Jurors at Design for Change
Design for Change
Venue : The Riverside School, Ahmedabad
Design for Change is an event welcoming ideas from across the country towards building a better tomorrow. These entries are by children and judged by children. Being a part of the judging panel validated our assumption of their real-world preparedness. With over 2000+ stories, this was a platform to create well-rounded future leaders by following a simple framework - Feel, Imagine, Do and Share. They beautifully followed the design process to transition from a place of ‘problems’ to creating high impact scalable solutions. It truly instilled in us confidence in the transformative power of children to change the things around them, from food distribution in a government school in Kerala to road safety in Haryana. We’ve got superstars in our own homes.
Research Activities Validation 2
Postcards to the PM Activity 1
A research activity to advocate children’s voices by creating a virtual hotline with the Prime Minister in the form of post cards. Children expressed their discontent, showed appreciation and shared propositions to improve the city. Swacch Bharat, heritage city, bullet trains and speedy metros, abundant nature and places of leisure emerged as aspirations. ‘Spitting’, ‘pollution’, ‘corruption’, ‘traffic’ were condemned. Some shared personal stories of everyday experiences, displaying sensitivity to their surroundings. If their ideologies aligned with us adults, not including their opinions seemed irrational.
Design Thinking Activity 2
As the last big step, we facilitated a Design thinking workshop to enable children to conduct their own workshop for and with other children.
Following the design process, children of the Riverside School came together to plan a Workshop, removing dependencies on admin, parents and the school by large. They wanted to create something that informed, was provocative and proved them to be deserving of greater involvement and responsibility. More details below.
Beauty in this Giga Map
The beauty of the giga map lies in it’s ability to capture a a project from research to prototype in a way that is actionable. It tells the story from start to finish while functioning as a toolkit for policy makers, educators, parents and children to come together. A project done with, by children and for children, the giga map captures their voices and curates the future. It validates the readiness of children to take ownership of their city. This giga map provides the data, guidelines and ideas to retrofit, replicate and innovate this model for existing cities. It provides the framework for a sustainable, independent system run by empowered children (future citizens) who are responsible and have a sense of ownership.
Attention, Adults.
Our journey evinced several reasons why children should be included in decision making processes in a city. Our research provides supporting evidence advocation the imperative need for children’s co-participation in civic processes. With each stage in this project, our assumptions broke down only to be replaced by a growing support for children’s voices to be heard. While there always will be co-dependencies, it is the need of the hour to to acknowledge that their ideologies and vision for a better city aligns with that of today’s leaders.
& Recognition
IIT Mumbai Design for Play, Hyderabad Design Week, RSD Symposium Chicago and RSD Ahmedabad.
Project Resources
22 tips on working with kids!
A curated list of tips on working with children that was born out of first - hand experience. 22 tips to having a productive and meaningful co-creation session!
Toolkit to discover your city.
Fun games & activities for children to consciously & frequently interact with their city to increase their knowledge, sense of belonging and willingness to take on responsibility for its betterment . These activities have a low dependancy on adults and hence can be enjoyed by children independently.
Knock - Knock Who’s There
A documentations of childrens imagination, associations, knowledge and hopes. This booklet captures multiple perspectives on buildings. Insights from this book can inspire and guide architects and urban planners their work to improve city infrastructure.
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