Designs Upon Children's Special Places?

Abstract

Many of those engaged in the broad area of environmental planning and design for children have a background in geography, architecture, engineering, or a related field. There is an apparent tendency for people trained in such disciplines to make basic unexamined assumptions about the spatiality of the environment as landscape - assumptions that are not likely to be shared by children. The resultant planning and landscaping of environments designated for children can run counter to the needs of children to find and form their own special places. Before asolution to the problem can be found, the nature of the problem itself must be addressed. This essay seeks to elucidate the problem by tracing its origins.