This Child in the City article (30 June 2025) compares children’s use of city spaces in Auckland, New Zealand, and Venice, Italy.
The findings present a paradox: playgrounds built for safety can stifle creativity and mobility, while self-organising open spaces offer rich opportunities to explore and belong.
The authors argue that ‘for healthy, regenerative and vibrant cities to work, we need to realise that children should have agency to shape the complex assemblage that cities really are’.
