Metropolitics

In Norway, Housing Schemes Designed with Children in Mind

Grégoire Tortosa & translated by Oliver Waine — 2024-11-22T06:00:00Z

How can cities take more of a “child's eye view”? Grégoire Tortosa shows how avant-garde housing developments in Oslo and Tromsø, in Norway, have been designed to encourage children to play freely.
From the 1920s onwards, the Modernist movement defined a new conception of the city. By proposing a “coherent set of reasoning principles recognized and used as a reference,” it set itself up as an urban paradigm (Héran 2015, p. 33), with functionalism, technicism, the rejection of all heritage,

- From the Field / cars, Norvège, urban planning, spatial planning, urban design, urban development, housing, housing estates, housing projects, children, play

The Educational Fortunes of Children of Immigrants in France

Mathieu Ichou & translated by Oliver Waine — 2018-07-06T05:00:00Z

How can the attainment gap between children of immigrants and children of native-born parents be explained? While some underline the role of an implausible “culture of origin”, Mathieu Ichou shows that differences in academic achievement are linked above all to social origin, and in particular to the social positions occupied by immigrant parents both in their host country and in their country of origin.
Despite many nuanced contributions from sociologists, the theme of academic failure among

- Essays / immigration, culture, children, education, school, social class

Childhood Spent Waiting at the Gate

Adeline Perrot & translated by Oliver Waine — 2016-04-01T05:00:00Z

The recent opening of a holding area for “unaccompanied foreign minors” at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport reflects a change in French policy regarding the detention of children at border entry points. Adeline Perrot shows that, in reality, providing care for young people in confinement straddles a fine line between protecting minors in danger and policing migratory movements.
---- Series: Children in the City In July 2011, a closed area for the detention of unaccompanied foreign minors was

- From the Field / architecture, France, Île-de-France, Paris region, Paris, police, children, law, migration, borders, detention centres, airport, hospitality, education, childhood in danger, migratory policy, NGOs, social work

“Enfantillages”: photographing children (and their parents) in public space

Fabien Desage & translated by Oliver Waine — 2016-03-04T06:00:00Z

Why are children photogenic? Political sociologist Fabien Desage reflects upon his practices as a photographer and the reasons that make children in public spaces a particularly interesting and stimulating subject of visual investigation.
---- Series: Children in the City ENFANTILLAGE, n.m. Informal A. The state of being (like) a child. 1. Rare. Physical aspect that is characteristic of a child. 2. [Gen., pertaining to an adult] Lack of maturity; a tendency to act without thinking. (Near-)

- From the Field / public space, children, public order, photography, order in public, parents, street, authority, photogenicity, upbringing

How Children Cope When Home is a Hotel

Erwan Le Méner & translated by Christina Mitrakos — 2016-02-05T06:00:00Z

Emergency housing in social hotels is affecting a growing number of families in the Paris region. How does this experience impact the lives of children? What are the consequences on children's relationship to space, on how they grow up, and on how they learn, make friends and play? Erwan Le Méner shows how school plays a central role in stabilizing an otherwise precarious situation.
---- Series: Children in the City Today, one in five people experiencing homelessness in the Paris region are

- From the Field / France, Paris region, housing, children, public policy, sociabilities, vulnerability, homelessness, precarity, vulnerable housing, emergency accommodation, social emergency, social hotel, school

Social Diversity in Gentrified Neighborhoods: Child's Play?

Jean-Yves Authier & Sonia Lehman-Frisch & translated by Christina Mitrakos — 2015-12-04T05:55:00Z

How do children develop relationships? Do they meet children from socio-economic backgrounds other than their own? What are the effects of (much sought-after) social diversity among adults on the younger generation? This study of children's social relations in a gentrified neighborhood in Paris sheds light on these questions.
---- Series: Children in the City Since the 1980s, many large European and North American cities have been affected by gentrification: upper-middle-class households

- From the Field / gentrification, social diversity, Paris, children, neighborhood, sociabilities, parenting practices

What we can learn from babies' sociability

Carole Gayet-Viaud & translated by Oliver Waine — 2015-10-09T04:55:00Z

The sociability of very young children reveals a neglected dimension of relations and interactions in public, and highlights issues associated with ordinary urban contact that often go unnoticed. Civil interaction exhibits an inclination towards friendliness, a concern for others and the surrounding world, which, while admittedly limited and sometimes disputed, nevertheless contributes to an ordinary sense of belonging to a moral and political community.
---- Series: Children in the City

- Essays / public space, proximity, children, sociabilities, interactions, civility, civil inattention, education, teaching, common good, friendliness, order in public, socialization

Children in the City

Carole Gayet-Viaud & Clément Rivière & Philippe Simay — 2015-10-02T05:00:00Z

After a long period of neglect, the field of urban studies in France is showing a marked revival of interest in children. In bringing together texts that offer different perspectives on children's experience of the city and their place within it, this series of articles seeks to contribute to the collective efforts currently under way in terms of reflecting upon (or rethinking) the specificities of these unique city-dwellers.
---- ▼ Jump to the list of articles in this series ▼ In France,

- Series / public space, children

The Future of Asbury Park: Gentrification and Youth in a Coastal Community

Alicia Raia-Hawrylak — 2015-03-31T04:55:00Z

Once known as a successful beach community, with a lively boardwalk and thriving rock music scene, the city of Asbury Park, New Jersey, faced steep decline as investment shifted to the suburbs and other places of amusement. With gentrification occurring since the early 2000s, Alicia Raia-Hawrylak documents the experience of an oft-neglected group in both academic research and urban politics, the city's youth, and considers their inclusion in future urban planning.
Asbury Park, New Jersey is a

- From the Field / gentrification, United States, children, teenagers, tourism, youth, community

Programming play into public space?

Sonia Curnier & translated by Oliver Waine — 2015-03-20T05:26:00Z

With the rise of the “ludic city”, the work of Roger Caillois and Marc Breviglieri allows us to question the paradoxical character of planning and “programming” playfulness into public spaces, which should allow room for manoeuvre and encourage improvisation on the part of users.
Over recent decades, the theme of playfulness has been eagerly integrated into the development of public spaces in Western cities. The staging of play-related practices by developers raises the question of how much

- Essays / public space, urban planning, urban development, children, development, urban ambiences