ABSTRACT

Aboriginal children represent one of the fastest growing population segments in Australia, yet the lives of Aboriginal children in their environment has rarely been subjected to systematic and in-depth study. In this book, Angela Kreutz considers the relationship between the environment, attachment and development in indigenous children, examining theoretical constructs and conceptual models by empirically road testing these ideas within a distinct cultural community. 

The book presents the first empirical study on Australian Aboriginal children’s lives from within the field of child-environment studies, employing an environmental psychology perspective, combined with architectural and anthropological understandings. Chapters offer valuable insights into participatory planning and design solutions concerning Aboriginal children in their distinct community environment, and the cross-cultural character of the case study illuminates the commonalities of child development, as well as recognising the uniqueness that stems from specific histories in specific places.

Children and the Environment in an Australian Indigenous Community makes significant theoretical, methodological and practical contributions to the international cross disciplinary field of child-environment studies. It will be of key interest to researchers from the fields of environmental, ecological, developmental and social psychology, as well as anthropologists, sociologists, and those studying the environment and planning.

 

chapter |8 pages

Introduction

part I|76 pages

Perspective matters

chapter 1|38 pages

“Come this way”

Research with children

chapter 2|36 pages

“That's my home”

Historical and contemporary insights

part II|98 pages

Children and place

chapter 3|27 pages

“I go everywhere”

Children's spatial activity

chapter 4|36 pages

“Playing around”

Affordances of place

chapter 5|33 pages

“A deadly place”

Place attachments and aversions

part III|43 pages

Design possibility

chapter 6|21 pages

“No one swims there anymore”

Lack of child-environment congruence

chapter 7|20 pages

“See the future”

Design recommendations