Time period
The Walking Neighbourhood hosted by Children
- Australia Fortitude Valley
- Thailand Old Chiang Mai City
- Australia Bagot
- South Korea Seoul
- Australia Redfern
- U.K. Kings Cross
- Finland Kuopio
Summary
The Walking Neighbourhood: hosted by children project is an arts based research initiative that explores how young people can actively engage with and reshape public space. Developed as a collaboration between researchers, artists, and communities, the project centres on child led neighbourhood walks, where children guide adult participants through their local environments, sharing their perspectives, experiences, and knowledge.
By reversing traditional roles—placing children as hosts and adults as listeners—the initiative challenges dominant perceptions of children as passive or vulnerable, instead highlighting their capacity as competent urban actors. These performative walks function as a form of public pedagogy, encouraging participants to reconsider assumptions about safety, mobility, and children’s place in the city.
Through this experiential and participatory approach, the project promotes intergenerational learning, civic engagement, and more inclusive urban thinking, contributing to a shift in how public spaces are understood, designed, and shared.
Key aspects
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Child led, performative engagement
Positions children as hosts and guides, foregrounding their perspectives in public space. -
Arts based and pedagogical approach
Uses walking as a performative method to explore and reinterpret urban environments. -
Reframing children’s urban rights
Challenges dominant narratives by recognizing children as active urban actors and knowledge holders. -
Place based experiential learning
Grounds learning in direct engagement with neighborhoods and everyday practices. -
Scalable and adaptable model
Applied across diverse contexts, demonstrating a transferable approach to child centred urban design.