Youth As Urban Designers

Creating Youth Changemakers

Author: missycaswell

Reflection…

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On April 28, 2021

In April

Today we had the pleasure of speaking to a number of faculty, staff, department heads, and the Dean of Science at the University of the Fraser Valley, along with other interns who have also been navigating the virtual world this term.

It was great to hear about all goals that were accomplished this term despite the challenges we have all faced. Its been one heck of a ride but we have all learned so much, gained valuable work experience, and created some amazing work that meets the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Our overall goal for this internship was to assist in creating a more sustainable, child friendly Chandigarh. A city that offers its most vulnerable citizens with quality education, equality for all, and improvement of the overall health and wellbeing of citizens by promoting children’s participation in the urban design and planning processes in a way that honors their rights to participate and be heard as outlined in the UN Convention on the rights of the Child.

Overall, this internship has been an excellent and rewarding experience, albeit the limitations and challenges we faced as a result of it being entirely virtual. All three of us agreed that we entered this internship with a solid understanding or idea of what we were going to achieve or gain through this experience, and yet it evolved into something completely different but just as rewarding for us. It has been a unique experience and an opportunity we are all extremely glad to have been apart of.  

– Missy, Stephanie, Casandra

Creating Connections

Sticky Post

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On April 21, 2021

In April

We know that this is a stressful time for everyone and we don’t want to add any extra stress to teachers or students; however, we do hope that when the time is right, teachers can use our Facebook page to express their interest in connecting with teachers in other countries and learn about different ways that cities around the world are working alongside children to create inclusive child friendly spaces.

Exploring Human Rights

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On April 10, 2021

In April

This week I have been working on creating some activities that will help support teachers as they introduce children to the very important topic of human rights and equality. As the children work through these activities they will be able to demonstrate their understanding of equality, human dignity and justice.

If you are wondering what human rights has to do with this internship then keep reading…

Children have the right to their opinions in all matters that affect them; however, this right is often overlooked by municipalities when it comes to urban design and planning. We want to encourage children to start using their voice and be urban designers because its their right! Since we are working to help cities become more child friendly, it is imperative that we bring up this rather sensitive topic. Helping children learn their rights and responsibilities and those of their cities/ governments will help begin the process of bridging the gap between policies and reality.

We want to help children find their voice and begin creating a more collaborative approach to designing cities that includes their participation. This is part of the reason why we decided the rebrand of our project was necessary. We want to facilitate the creation of youth changemakers in communities across the globe.

– Missy

  • Some of the materials that are included in the Module 4 curriculum.

Outreach Activity

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On March 29, 2021

In March

Outreach activity for the research survey in Chandigarh, India.

We have been working on creating a community mapping activity that will be used as part of the research survey in Chandigarh, India and it is finally complete!

The goal of creating this activity was to try to get children engaged in the survey in a way that would not only assist in building the children’s geography and mapping skills, but would also be an interactive activity. It is intended to help gather information about how children view their respective communities, and to identify areas that are in need of improvement as well as learn more about what is working in the children’s neighborhoods.

This activity was designed in a way that it could be used in any city and we hope our partners at the Punjab University will find this activity helpful to their research efforts. We hope that this will prove to be an inclusive and accessible educational experience that all students can participate fully and feel supported in as their full potential unfolds.

You can view this activity under the Presentation menu to the left of the screen.
Please feel free to leave a comment below with your thoughts on this outreach activity.

Block by block

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On March 22, 2021

In March

We attended a webinar this past week and learned about a lot of really great initiatives for building child friendly cities and one of the tools that was talked about was a project called Block by Block where children use the Minecraft game to visualize and engage in neighborhood mapping. This initiative sparked an idea for us – I have two boys who are seven and ten who love to play Minecraft; so, I decided to start creating a lesson plan and test it out at home with my children.

They have begun to work together to map our neighborhood. We are starting by mapping the houses, parks, roads, greenspaces, etc.; once they finish this they will begin to engage in an activity where they will be asked to think about the spaces and identify areas that could be improved and to then create a child friendly and inclusive space that they think will improve the quality of life for our community.

It is a work in progress, but its a really fun activity and a great way to get kids engaged in community planning while doing something they love – like playing Minecraft!

Check back for updates on how we are progressing through this activity.

– Missy

Early stages of mapping our neighborhood using Minecraft.

Community mapping

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On March 12, 2021

In March

We have been busy working on community mapping curriculum this week

We are all so excited to present this to our partners in India, and get some teachers connected. It will be great to see what the teachers and their students think of the workbooks, lesson plans, and activities that we have been working on these past few months and we hope that through these modules we will see children becoming more connected to their communities and local government.

Imagine a world where children are part of the urban design process… how amazing would our cities be?

– Missy

Defining outdoor spaces

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On March 1, 2021

In March

I ordered this book a few weeks ago and it finally arrived!

I’ve been flipping through it all day on and off and so far it really does help define the natural and built environments. Outdoor spaces have little manufactured items and thus, offer freedom. Classrooms are designed to dictate activities – you have a desk you sit at to work, you stand at the chalkboard to teach, the shelves are full of bins that store items and keep the room organized. Inside you lose that freedom, but outside offers endless possibilities.

As our world becomes more urbanized children are losing outdoor spaces and what they do have access to is usually constrained and controlled by adults. I’m excited to work with Stephanie and Casandra to find ways to bring freedom outdoors back to children and we have some ideas brewing that I think will be amazing tools to help implement this into our communities again.

– Missy

 

When it comes to research…

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On February 28, 2021

In February

 

We have been working on reading articles and narrowing down which ones to include in our literature review. We are learning so much about how innovation and redesigning of spaces has changed since the pandemic began. According to our research, the United Kingdom and Scandinavia seem to be leading when it comes to implementing child friendly initiatives into their cities and there is alot we can all learn still.

This week, I was also chatting with my son who is in grade 5 about a research project they were working on at school. He came home feeling defeated and said he recognized that a change in how we manage our resources but thought that because he was a kid he couldn’t do anything to help make the necessary changes. It was a great opportunity for me to sit down with him and talk about creating an action plan that he could use to draft a letter to our local municipal government to express his concerns and ideas on how it could be resolved.

This conversation sparked an idea. Since it is our job as educators to give children the tools they need to be successful, I have decided to create a curriculum module that students can use to assist them in making their voices heard.

Change happens when we come together and work collaboratively, and one of the ideas that my son is going to ask our municipality for is to have the opportunity to help in the urban planning of our community. Scandinavia and the United Kingdom have been seeking input from children on various planning projects and it is making their communities happier and healthier places that families are thriving in!

– Missy

 

Photo Reference:
Simon Weedy. “Urban Planning Is Failing Children and Breaching Their Human Rights,” February 24, 2021. https://www.childinthecity.org/2018/12/17/urban-planning-is-failing-children-and-breaching-their-human-rights/?gdpr=accept.

Its reading break week, but we aren’t stopping!

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On February 17, 2021

In February

It may be reading break at the Universities this week, but its the perfect opportunity for us to prep for a busy week ahead!

Next week we will be presenting information about the internship to Dr. Enns Social Urban Geography class, so we have been prepping and fine tuning the slides we are presenting . We will be be posting the presentation to the webpage in the coming weeks as well so stay tuned!

We are also working on completing some of the ethics modules, literature reviews, and attending webinars. We have been compiling a list of child friendly urban planning books that teachers can use in the classroom and these titles starting to be added to the webpage as well. There is also a list of some interesting podcasts and third party websites that may be useful for those wanting to learn more about the child friendly city initiative’s that are starting to take flight worldwide.

Enjoy your much deserved break and make sure to check back regularity to stay updated with what we are currently working on.

 

Time to invest in our communities

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On February 15, 2021

In February

Last Family Day long weekend – sledding with my family in Alberta on a beautiful sunny day!

It is amazing how quickly change can happen. This time last year I spent Family Day long weekend in Alberta visiting family. It was a beautiful sunny weekend, and we spent the weekend walking around the neighborhood, playing at the parks, and sledding down the one big hill in the community. If only we would have known that just a few weeks later, the COVID-19 pandemic would hit the world and the world would enter a period of isolation. The profound effects on the mental and physical health of citizens worldwide would become more prevalent and we would start rethinking our build environments.

After the first few weeks of being isolated at home it was becoming clear that not only my mental and physical health were beginning to suffer, but my children were much more sensitive to the effects of being cut off from the world. Our backyard garden, local playgrounds and trails became our place of refuge and demonstrated the risks involved in not engaging in outdoor play.

The lockdown pushed our family to live a sedentary life in front of screens for a few weeks; in that short amount of time, I noticed my children were becoming increasingly unhappy and their suffering was becoming profoundly more acute. The pandemic brought light to the importance that playgrounds play in children’s lives.

The playgrounds were not the same and we had to be creative about how to play in these spaces safely. I could see the shift in the state of their mental health change for the better once we started to explore our community and spent more time amongst nature. Many parents found the playgrounds to be the perfect place for engaging in distanced social interaction. Parks have become more than just a place for children to play, they are also a place for physical and mental wellbeing; proving that our community parks are more important than many of us realized.

This weekend has given me time to reflect on what really matters…

There is a longstanding shortage of funding for community parks which have become an essential amenity since the COVID-19 outbreak and without these parks, where do children go to play? Parks create a sense of community and opportunities for freedom and social interaction that is essential for good health. Now is the time to start showing the government the importance of investing more into the creation of child friendly cities. The webinars, research, and articles I am reviewing for this internship are showing me different ways that we can get children more involved in urban planning that will create an inclusive and healthy community for all.  Children really are the future!

– Missy

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