Revealing the Hidden Spatial Dimensions of Place Experience in Primary School-age Children

Abstract

The everyday local environment of incidental spaces routinely encountered by children is an important contributor to their social development and general health and well-being. There remains, however, a significant loss of connection between children and outdoor settings and this is increasingly raised as an issue that may have long term implications. It is now recognised as important that the voices of children should play a pivotal role in the arrangement and content of their spatial realm and that achieving this will require new ways to understand children's perceptions of place and how this contributes to individual and social development. This paper outlines UK based doctoral research to develop a range of participatory tools to facilitate exploration and analysis of the spatial experiences of primary school age children with particular reference to their perceptions of outdoor places they encounter in their daily life patterns.

Children's Places: Rural–Urban Comparisons Using Participatory Photography in the Bodrum Peninsula, Turkey

“…Simkins & Thwaites (2008) argue that it is the incidental features of natural environments, such as the movement of water in a river or the swaying of leaves in the wind, that provide enjoyment for children, rather than static structures specifically designed for play, which become boring after they have been used for a while. When they have the opportunity, children love to spend time in gardens, streets, parks, waterfronts, farmlands, forests, woods, junk yards and abandoned open areas.…”

Migrants and Non-Migrants Perception and Preferences

“…Researchers also conducted focus groups in which the children discussed several salient issues that had previously emerged 4 . The combination of auto-photography, interview and focus group methods allowed a greater understanding of the relationship between each student and "his/her landscape" to be achieved (Cardano, 2011;Simkins and Thwaites, 2008).…”

Landscape Culture - Culturing Landscapes

“…The children presented their pictures within a photo-diary, writing a caption for each photograph. The combination of auto-photography, interview and focus group methods allowed a greater understanding of the relationship between each student and "his/her landscape" to be achieved (Cardano, 2011;Simkins and Thwaites, 2008). 6.2.2 The village of Borgoricco seen through some children's pictures (reproduced from the "LINK"-project, photos by interviewee) Dodman, 2003;Young and Barrett, 2001).…”