A PLAYGROUND REVOLUTION

Connie Dales, Creative Assistant

Not being a parent myself, and not having the memory to remember my childhood response to urban infrastructure, it never occurred to me to think about how we raise children in our cities. I have, however, dabbled in childcare enough to know that practically everything is a threat to children, through adult eyes at least.
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So why is the idea of Child-Friendly Cities such a fresh take? Childhood, after all, is one of very few things that literally all of humanity has in common. Since joining Urban Movement, this has become a major focal point of my research work. And it’s always heart-warming to come across a rags-to-riches tale of progressive city planning. So imagine my joy when I (figuratively) discovered the Albanian capital of Tirana and its mayor Erion Veliaj, who has masterminded arguably the most impressive urban transformation in recent years.

In his TEDx talk, Veliaj refers to 20thcentury Albania as ‘the North Korea of Europe’ and goes on to explain that, when he and his team were elected into office in 2015, they ‘inherited a city full of traffic, full of smog; a city of illegally occupied space, no place for children to play’. In spite of this starting position, and a complete lack of funding, they managed to commence a full-scale operation to ‘child-friendlify’ the city, relying on the good will of volunteers and of companies willing to contribute for free (the latter, I admit, would likely be more of an impossible dream were we to give it a go in London), and mobilising children and their enthusiasm. It was children who made their parents accompany them to a ‘no car’ sit-in in the city, and told them “no we need a bike, we need roller skates!” when they attempted car travel; it was children who happily (or so I’m told) volunteered alongside Veliaj to clean up litter in the streets; and it was children who were encouraged to take on the role of Household Recycling Rep, ruling with an iron fist when they caught family members disposing of plastic in the wrong bin.

I shan’t quote Whitney Houston, or the lyricist Linda Creed, but l think they may have hit the nail on the head. Maybe all we need to revolutionise the future of urban living is to have children on the forefront

Children play on the street on one of Tirana’s “Day Without Cars” events

Children play in one of the new playgrounds in Tirana

Mayor Erion Veliaj on a ‘bring your children to work’ day