ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the role of urban planning, of intervention by the state in the urban environment, as related to the lives and play of children. It discusses issues of justice and fairness in planning for children. Public recreation was a progressive off-shoot of a primary concern with, and movement for, public health, which was a predecessor of the 'City Beautiful' and 'City Efficient' movements and thus of urban planning. The development of the idea of recreation as shaping healthy young lives left little room for an idea of self-determination by children. The realization of democratic objectives depends greatly on education of children in the practice of democracy. The issue of the redistribution of power over the lives and opportunities of children is part of the larger ethical issue of the social distributions of rights, wealth, opportunities and justice. The movement to broaden the rights of children is confronted with great scepticism.
