Culture, Environmental Action and Sustainability

Projects and policies for childhood in Italy (p. 299-300)

Antonella Rissotto

Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council, Rome

Abstract. This contribution has two aims. First to briefly describe the cultural and legislative context produced in Italy by the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Second to present some of the outcomes of the Children’s City project.

This project was started in 1991 and today it involves 46 cities in Italy, several in Argentina and a few in Spain. It is aimed at improving the urban environment from the perspective of children. The study of actions carried out by the Italian cities in order to promote children’s participation and children’s autonomous mobility highlights the positive and negative aspects of the project. The main limits of the project are connected with the following factors: project’s dependence on temporary tasks of politicians; the emphasis given to the educational dimension of interventions which shifts attention away from the city’s transformation and from children’s empowerment; the experimental character of the interventions which results in reduced impact on the urban environment and on the child population. The main positive aspects of the project are related to changes in the perception of childhood, which motivate administrators to make innovative choices and encourages the engagement of larger components of the community.

Keywords: urban environment, children’s empowerment, independent mobility, children’s participation, network of cities, legislative actions, evaluation

Introduction

Over the past few decades, especially in the industrialized western countries, a profound change has taken place in the relationship between children and their living environment. Increased road traffic, pollution and crime, the fragmentation of the urban fabric, the loss of community feeling, have transformed the cities into places that are unsuitable for children to play in. In many cities, the reduction in the range of urban spaces in which they can play (Bozzo, 1995; Gaster, 1991), has been paralleled by the construction of rigorously horizontal spaces, fenced in, and equipped and furnished in a stereotyped fashion, in which only the games for which they were designed can be played (Marillaud, 1991). These spaces seem to cater more to the adults’ demand for safety than to the children’s play needs (Ader & Jouve, 1991; Alexander, 1977; Tonucci & Rissotto, 1998), as they penalize play expressiveness and encourage adult–child relations (Danacher, 1991).

The modern city cannot be explored freely by children. This has resulted in part from parent’s fears about the safety and security of their children (Blakely, 1994; Harden, 2000; Scott et al. 1998), in part from environmental pollution and in part from the "adultization" of childhood because children’s times is filled with organised activities such as sports, music and scheduled activities (Francis and Lorenzo, 2002). The spread and extent of the restrictions placed on children’s autonomous movement (Hillman, 1993), led Gaster (1995) to assert that the concept of home range can no longer be applied to the interaction between the child and his or her living environment. The reduction in children’s autonomy of movement affects their parents’ habits (Gershuny, 1993), reduces the children’s opportunities for getting regular physical exercise (Armstrong, 1993) and is detrimental to the acquisition of environmental knowledge (Hart, 1979; Spencer, 1992; Torell & Biel, 1985; Torell, 1990).

Projects and intervention on behalf of children

Growing awareness of the consequences for children of changes occurring in the cities has led to the development of projects and interventions aimed at improving the relationship between the child and the environment in which he or she lives.