VIRTUAL: Livable Cities – New York
Abstract
The public spaces of the urban environments in which we live have lost their human scale and are not inclusive to those who inhabit them. Planners and urban designers can now extensively use many scientifically established and experienced urban planning guidelines and architectural pillars, but most cities are still unliveable. Many public spaces do not include minority groups, such as older people, immigrants, and women. Children, among all, are the greater excluded users of cities. Their needs don’t prevail as they are not considered citizens and active participants by policymakers. How can we humanize our cities and neighbourhood units again, considering the qualities inherent to urban morphology elements? Planning and designing public space could benefit from children’s perspectives considering their natural predisposition to inclusivity. Could we then contemplate children as a point of reference for society, as they naturally appropriate a place that was not made-measured-designed for them, to plan spaces more accessible to all those excluded from planning strategies? Children’s actions are today restricted to institutionalized activities or playgrounds, but before this happened, streets and public spaces of cities were the spontaneous play spaces for them to use. However, taking care of the textures, shapes, symbols, uses, activities, dimensions, detail, topography, and image of public spaces that make them more permeable to children can highlight the qualities of child-friendly planning. In doing so, we are creating inclusive spaces for all city users.
Elena Parnisari is an Italian architect, master in spatial planning and urban project, Ph.D. candidate in architecture. With her research “Searching for equitable, inclusive and caring urban neighbourhoods: measuring children’s right to the city through urban design.” she aims to investigate whether it is possible to formulate more inclusive urban policies, starting from the exploration of co-responsibility in critical neighbourhoods, assuming children as indicators of urban inequality and as determinants of inclusive urban design.
Teresa Calix is an architect, master in urban planning and design, and Ph.D. in architecture. She is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto, coordinates the option Urban Dynamics and Forms of the Ph.D. program, and is responsible for the urban design studio and urban theory course of the master’s program. Her experience combines theory and practice, exploring innovative approaches between education and applied research through projects with public institutions related to the territory. She coordinates NEB goes South, an international platform recognized by the European Commission, focused on the Ecological Pact.
8:00 am - 9:30 am
Friday 16th June, 2023