Where do the Children Play? Designing Child – Friendly Compact Cities

We are very happy to share with you this book by Natalia Krysiak, Australian architect. The publication was produced as part of the 2017 David Lindner Research Grant supported by the NSW chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects and explores the strategies of facilitating play throughout all public space, connecting schools to public spaces, playing for high-density homes and planning safe routes.

‘In my career as an architect, I have always been fascinated by how the design of cities and neighborhoods can affect the day to day lives of children. This comes from the fact that as a child, my parents travelled a lot, giving me the opportunity to experience many different neighborhoods and homes. Every new environment had a big impact on my childhood – either constraining or enabling opportunities to safely play outdoors, walk to school, and socialise with other neighborhood children. These were important elements of my childhood, enabling the development of skills such as independence, social skills, creativity, empathy, and instilling a sense of belonging to a community. The experiences and exposure to various cities that I had as a child has led me to believe that along with good social policy, the built environment can have a profound effect on the health, well- being, and happiness of our youngest citizens and far more attention should be paid on how this can be done.’ Natalia Krysiak

Read more: https://issuu.com/citiesforplay/docs/child_friendly_cities_natalia_krysiak