Children's Spaces

This collection of essays is concerned with the experiences children have within the supervised worlds they inhabit, as well as with architecture and landscape architecture.International examples of innovative childcare practice are illustrated together with the design processes which informed their development. The emphasis here is on new and experimental childcare projects which set-out to reassert the rights of children to participate in a complex multi-faceted world, which is no longer available to them, unless under adult supervision. Research supports in depth recommendations regarding the ideal children's environment, across a range of contexts and dimensions. Until recent times, the needs of children within the urban environment were largely ignored. There is little tradition and no broadly agreed contemporary architectural or landscape theory as to how children should be provided for, beyond a limited functional agenda. There is a sense that architecture for childhood is not taken seriously; it is either whimsical and ephemeral or largely designed for adults, an adjunct to the more important business of adult needs and aspirations. Yet children access much of their education and development through play and social interaction with their childhood counterparts. The spaces in and around children"s daycare centres, schools, supervised parks and other dedicated children"s environments are the subject of this collection. As more and more purpose designed buildings and gardens for children are opened, the need to listen to children and their carers is becoming more aparant. Mark Dudek gathers together a number of internationally recognized experts in the field of childcare environments to write about different aspects of the landscape. They have been chosen in particular because of their background in enquiring, research orie