Commoning in the Fringes of Cities

By Francesca Ranalli and Jade Mandrake

The goal of this project is to creatively experiment with children’s perception and experience of the urban commons. To this end, we worked with an art teacher and a film-maker, and involved children from four primary schools in Almere Poort. So far, we’ve conducted walk-along discussions and art workshops with the children. The children’s drawings and models were analyzed using object analysis and artistic research methods, of which we will present the preliminary results to CUS. Those methods contribute to knowledge of children's perception in peri-urban areas, such as emotional safety, fun and play vs. boredom and danger, awareness of spatial changes and the ways in which they envision possibilities for development. From the perspective of artistic research, we explore the significance of non/rationality to produce knowledge in urban planning. The analysis showed that children's neighborhood places tend to reflect adults’ values and space production and that creative output is confined without top-down intervention. In practice, this project’s results can help urban planners and policy-makers to address urban development, with an intergenerational approach that supports co-creation of public spaces. In the next phase, the children along with a local artist will build a temporary art installation in a public, neighbourhood space.