ABSTRACT

I don’t want a Childhood City. I want a city where children live in the same world as I do.

(Ward 1978: 204)

The aim of this book is to explore children’s lives in contemporary cities. We are writing at a time of intense international debate about the quality of life in cities, and a central theme in this debate has been how cities can become good enough places for children to live in alongside other generations. Colin Ward, in his important book The Child in the City, from which we have drawn great inspiration, strongly advocates that cities should be places where children and adults can live together. However, as many of the chapters in this book show, the creation and sustaining of cities in such a way involves a complex and difficult process of negotiation. The sites of negotiation are multiple, from struggles over where to kick a football or discussions between parents and children about going out to play to wider debates concerning land use or planning for the future form of cities.