I’ve spent a lot of time in the last couple months thinking about the street and our relationship to it. For a lot of people, the concept of the street brings back old memories of playing outdoors in a neighborhood. So it got me thinking, what really shapes our concept of the street from a young age?
If you take a look at media, I found 2 very iconic examples from the 90’s:
This street is filled with characters of all shapes, sizes, and colors and teaches kids to think about diversity on their street. It taught students about urban life (possibly in New York), outside of their suburban houses they were probably watching in.
Key to Rogers’ approach was the idea that a healthy child should play, feel, and be able to inhabit a Land of Make-Believe where creativity reigned, emotions could be discussed, and supportive adults listened. Where did these things happen? ON THE STREET.
If there are others, please let me know!
On another note, I really believe in children’s books. I’m on the hunt to find children’s books talking about streets. Books are 1. harder to nail down and 2. create a slightly less formative impression due to the sheer quantity of books a child comes into contact with. With that said, they are still important. At young formative ages, the medium is just as important as the content. If the future is about changing our urban environment, we need to start creating literature for little ones to prime and support them for the change they wish to co-create!
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