Children's urban landscapes in Huntington Hills, Calgary
Date
1977
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Abstract
Suburban areas in large North American cities have been castigated as monotonous and sterile by urban critics. With relatively low densities, car ownership is necessary in order to reach shopping and recreational facilities. For those people without cars, moving about in the suburbs is a difficult matter. In spite of these negative criticisms, suburban areas continue to attract families with young children, whose rationale for selecting such locations often includes the opinion that the large proportion of private space and better schools and playgrounds will be of direct benefit to their children. The suburban Calgary community of Huntington Hills, composed mainly of lower middle income families, was selected for study in order to discover how children use the materials and environments of suburban areas. The approach adopted in the study emphasizes understanding children's actions and activities rather than discovering generalizations concerning children's behaviour. Children of all ages definitely use the materials and environments available to them but the suburban environment in Huntington Hills is best suited to children eight to eleven years old. Younger children tend to use primary materials like dirt but often the specific sites provided for them are inaccessible because of distance or parental attitudes. Children over twelve desire centres of social activity where they can exert some degree of control over their environment; such opportunities are nearly non-existent in Huntington Hills. Adventure playgrounds could provide the beginnings of the enrichment of the suburban environment in Huntington Hills but there are also many opportunities for improvement of the existing playgrounds and private backyards.
Description
Bibliography: p. 431-440.
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Citation
Payne, R. J. (1977). Children's urban landscapes in Huntington Hills, Calgary (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/16610