Where Should Children Play?

City Planning Seen From Knee-Height: Copenhagen 1870 to 1920

Abstract

In the late 19th century, as the population of Copenhagen swelled, city leaders and educators were faced with the problem of how to accommodate space for children within the city. Central to their debate were Herbert Spencer's (1861) theories and his argument that play was of crucial importance to children's physical and moral development. Seeking to directhe child to orderly activities, adults constructed the school, the playground, and the sandbox. The cost of these changes was that children's free space was progressively reduced.