The research aim is to develop methodology amenable to revealing spatial aspects of the place experience of primary school aged children in ways relevant to landscape design decision making.

The everyday ‘local environment’ routinely encountered by children is increasingly highlighted as an important contributor to their social development and general health and well-being. Evidence suggests that there is significant loss of connection between children and outdoor settings and that this may have long term implications (Worpole,2003). Ken Worpole recently highlighted this, placing the importance of providing for, and giving voice to, children in policy, planning, design and management of public open space within the Urban Renaissance agenda. One important issue is that the voices of children must play a pivotal role in the arrangement and content of places they routinely encounter and ways to understand their notions of place as an essential component of individual and social development are required (Titman,1994; Worpole,2003).

Although children’s participative techniques exist, for example in school grounds design projects (Adams and Ingham 1998), in practice they can be deficient and frequently tokenistic: what Sanoff has referred to as pseudo-participation (Sanoff 2000). Frequently lacking, for example, is sufficient consideration of aspects of children’s experience of place that can promote positive behaviour, place attachment and a sense of emotional wellbeing (Canter,1977; Tuan,1980; Proshansky et al.,1983). Additionally, how to effectively translate experiential issues into a form amenable to spatial design disciplines, landscape architecture and urban design, for example is far from well developed. Literature, particularly in the general field of socially responsive environmental planning and design, in the previous four decades highlights the continuing concealment of the spatial dimension of experience to be an important limitation to environmental design disciplines (Norberg-Schulz,1971; Alexander,1977; Hillier and Hanson,1984;Thwaites,2001; Thwaites and Simkins,2005).

The study (now in its final year) focuses on the ‘school run’ as an example of a routinely encountered spatial continuity, and because the DfES has recently highlighted the importance of enhancing the school run’s potential to promote positive behaviour and choice by giving children a say on improving school journeys (DfES 2003). The study has evolved through a programme of pilot field work undertaken over the past 6 years augmented by literature research.

The research employs a range of participative techniques, each capable of accessing different facets of children’s place perceptions, to determine the components and procedures of a provisional method applied to the study of three sites focussing on children at year 3 and year 6 of primary school education. The resulting data is analysed for its operational effectiveness and for the contribution it makes to provide an insight into children’s place perception. This analysis will help refine initial techniques into a developed method proposed for use by design professionals.

PUBLICATIONS & CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS:
Simkins. I.M. (2007) Listening to and understanding the voices of young children in the planning and design process, in: Urban Sustainability through Environmental Design, eds: Thwaites. K., Porta. S., Romice. O. and Greaves, M. Book commissioned by Spon Press, London.

Thwaites.K. and Simkins.I.M. (2007) Experiential Landscape: revealing hidden dimensions of people-place relations, in: Urban Sustainability through Environmental Design, eds: Thwaites. K., Porta. S., Romice. O. and Greaves, M. Book commissioned by Spon Press, London.

Thwaites K and Simkins I.M. (March 2007) Experiential Landscape: an approach to people, place and space. Invited key note presentation as part of the 'Seven mirrors' conference organised by the Centre for Place and Learning, Stockholm, Sweden.

Simkins I.M. and Thwaites K. (September 2006) Place experience of primary school children: revealing the spatial dimensions. Presentation at the Children, Youth and Environments meeting, IAPS 19th International Conference, Alexandria, Egypt.

Simkins I.M. and Thwaites K. (July 2006) Developing tools and techniques for revealing spatial dimensions of place experience in primary school aged children. Seminar presentation and paper at: "Planning and designing healthy public outdoor spaces for young people in the 21st century" conference hosted by the faculty of the Built Environment, University of the West of England, Bristol.

Simkins I.M. and Thwaites K. (2006) Potential through Participation. green places, Issue 22, February 2006, pp. 22-27. view article.

Simkins I.M. (April 2006) The development of tools and techniques for revealing spatial dimensions of place experience in primary school aged children. Seminar presentation at: Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Conference. Department of Sociological Studies, The University of Sheffield.

Simkins I.M. (March 2006) Reflection on Undertaking Reserach into the Spatial Dimensions of Children's Place Experience. Seminar presentation at: Practicalities of Working Inclusively with Children. Centre for the Study of Childhood and Youth, The University of Sheffield.

Simkins I.M. (March 2006) Revealing spatial dimensions of place experience in primary school aged children. Presentation at: Recovering Landscape Workshop. Department of Archaeology, University of York.

Simkins.I.M. and Thwaites.K. (2004) The Spatial Experience of Primary School Aged Children: The Development of an Open Space Design Language. Paper and conference presentation at the international Open Space: People Space conference, Edinburgh, 27-29 October 2004.
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SITE DESIGN: Kevin Thwaites & Ian Simkins
last update: 23 December, 2007