ABSTRACT
In Oakland, California, Growing Up in Cities was carried out with children of Cambodian and Mexican immigrants who shared an apartment housing complex in the city’s disadvantaged Fruitvale neighbourhood. The project participants revealed fear and ignorance about the city around them, combined with an intense creative use of their immediate housing environment. Building on this creativity, the project initiated a participatory design process which engaged the children in envisioning improvements to their housing site. In the process, the children began to tear down the fences around them both literally and figuratively.
