Conference „Child in the City“, City Hall Vienna, 24. – 26. September 2018

Participation at the international conference „Child in the City“ (24. – 26. September 2018, City Hall Vienna) with two presentations in two sessions:

First presentation on: “I wanna walk every corner!” – Children as autonomous pedestrians in a city?

Looking at “childhood in the city” and the presence of children in urban public spaces today and in former days the change ranges from children who explored their surroundings autonomously on foot and covered an increasingly large area to “insular lifeworlds” in which children are taken by adults form one “island” to the next. Today a city´s public space is mainly devoted to traffic with only insular places for children like playgrounds. Measures as well as research mostly focus on the children´s way to school und how to make this path safe. But it is the children´s right to participate in a city´s public space beyond the way to school and playgrounds. Also children have a need for autonomous movement and mobility without the company of adults. But walking autonomously in the city they often have to face discrimination because they are considered to be neglected, indicating a lack of parental supervision. Additionally, the safety needs of parents who do not want their children to be out on the streets by themselves and the adults’ view of unaccompanied children on the streets as children “at risk” impede their autonomous appropriation of public space.

The presentation discussed the historical development of a city´s public space as a place of childhood as well as the outcomes of the study “schrittweise”(“step-by-step”) carried out in cooperation with “Vienna´s Park Counselling” (Wiener Parkbetreuung) on children as autonomous pedestrians in public spaces. The study focuses on social structures that enable children to establish themselves as autonomous pedestrians.

Second presentation on the research project „FahrRad!“

Kids explore, develop and improve bikes – conception of an educational program concerning bike-mobility (www.fahrrad-talente.at). Cooperation Partners: Green City Lab – Martina Jauschneg, United in Cycling, WOOM Bikes, Valentin Vodev, Sonja Gruber. Funded by Federal Ministery of Transport, Technology and Innovation BMVIT; adminstrated by Österreichische Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft FFG.

Objectives of the FahrRad! Project: Based on bikes and cycling the kids should experience cycling as a sustainable form of mobility, understand design and innovation processes and develop and create new ideas by themselves.Requirements for the educational program: Design of a concept for one or more days of action, sponsoring for school projects on bike mobility. Approach: Hands on and Minds on, not only language based, enable creative, playful approaches, consider the Gender Gap

Rahmen: International Conference „Child in the City“ vom 24. – 26. September, City Hall Vienna

Aufgabenbereich: Presentations