Children’s agency in accessing for spaces of play in an urban high-rise community in Malaysia

ABSTRACT

This research explores children’s agency in negotiating for play spaces in Malaysia within the context of an urban high-rise community. Fieldwork was conducted with 31 children between the ages of four to 12 years old. A qualitative, child-centered approach to data collection was employed using participatory research methods. The study reveals how children gain access to play spaces and details their innovative strategies in maximizing play opportunities in a community with limited infrastructural and social support. It highlights how children claim the use of communal spaces within the housing compound, reinvent designated play spaces, resist adult rules around restricted spaces and embrace elements of global culture for meaningful play opportunities. The paper argues that children exercise agency in accessing play spaces, and by so doing, extend and expand their lived geographies which are not just spatial, temporal and social but also invented and imagined.     

Planning's “Failure” to Ensure Efficient Market Delivery: A Lacanian Deconstruction of this Neoliberal Scapegoating Fantasy

Our neoliberal governance model places a burden on planning to often take “responsibility” for the failure of market-lead governance to deliver its policy promises of betterment, security and future enjoyment. These include promised, but often-unachievable policies, such as those of increased global competitiveness for areas of structural economic decline; or housing affordability in areas of population growth and constrained land availability. Resultant policy failures then result in a scapegoating response where planning is held responsible. Examples include that economic development, or housing affordability, is obstructed by planning impediments, such as regulatory controls or process delays, which are claimed to hamper efficient market delivery. To deconstruct this neoliberal fantasy that planning often impedes policies for market-lead success, the article will first document exemplars of this scapegoating process. It will then explore the role of fantasy and ideology in governance policy formulation and, from a Lacanian perspective, the theorization that underlies this process. Then, it will investigate the role of the “scapegoat” for public policy facilitation so as to explain why planning is often placed in this role, and why this role is often ideologically necessary, at least for neoliberal governance, when planning undertaking its statutory responsibility of facilitating the public interest.     

汉代桥梁图像的建筑学研究

汉代是中国古代建筑史上非常重要的奠基阶段,截至东汉晚期四大基本桥型均已出现,而且已经出现不同类型的发展和变化。文中通过对汉代画像砖石及壁画等材料上的桥梁图像进行分析,结合目前已发掘的汉代桥梁遗址和文献中的相关记载,对汉代桥梁类型和结构进行了较为全面的梳理和研究。     

‘Eyes on where children play’: a retrospective study of active free play

The purpose of this study was to examine factors that influenced childhood active free play. Participants were 13 young adults who resided in one western Canadian city. They took part in semi-structured and walk-along interviews during which they were asked about their memories and experiences of play. Analysis showed that, whereas parental restrictions and safety concerns were limiting factors, a sense of community and safety in numbers facilitated their involvement in active free play. However, the young adults thought these factors had since become eroded from modern society. We concluded a reduced sense of perceived safety exists because there are fewer eyes on where children play.     

Changes in children's nature-based experiences near home: from spontaneous play to adult-controlled,planned and organised activities

A qualitative case study from Brumunddalen, Norway, indicates that children's use of nature areas near their homes have changed substantially from being spontaneous and self-initiated to being part of planned, organised and adult-controlled activities. This study explores the association between changes in outdoor play and wider patterns of change in childhood today, as increasing amounts of play time is spent in institutions and organised activities, or occupied by computer and internet usage. The paper discusses these effects in terms of social relations as well as children's identity formation. The subject was investigated through adults' memories of their own childhood and their observations of children's practices.     

Encouraging play in the natural environment: a child-focused case study of Forest School

There is concern that children are becoming disengaged from the natural environment and are not being afforded the opportunities to play in such environments. To examine children's perceptions, knowledge and experiences of play in the natural environment, 17 children from one school participated in small focus groups before and after a 12-week Forest School that took place within a school woodland area. Using two qualitative approaches, we found that Forest School had a positive influence on children's natural play and their knowledge of the natural world around them.     

规范化历史建筑维修理论架构概说

古建筑维修理论应用历史建筑维修概念,即：作为观念的维修、作为制度的维修、作为管理策略的维修、作为技术手段的维修理念和可持续发展理念。     

明代山西孝义武将纸窗影人真伪考述

本文就一件明代山西孝义武将纸窗影人的真伪进行了详细的考辨,其中对于作伪方式的认识,有助于明清皮影的研究。     

古代小说中棋戏描写的艺术功能

古代小说中具有大量关于棋戏的描写,其不仅具备娱乐的实用价值,而且被赋予独到的文学艺术功能,成为小说的一个有机组成部分。概而言之,不仅能够借以展开矛盾冲突,推动情节发展,并能刻画人物性格,塑造人物形象,还能展现社会风尚,创造典型环境,更能体现出作者的批判意识与价值取向。     

Teaching critical thinking in world regional geography through stakeholder debate

Using a stakeholder debate based on a real-world case of regional construction – that of Turkey's application to join the European Union – improved students' critical thinking in an introductory world regional geography course. Such courses are a staple offering among US geography departments, and often the only exposure of non-majors to geographic thinking. A stakeholder debate highlighting regional construction, using structured learning activities and reflection on their own thinking, improved students' critical thinking. We describe the stakeholder debate and its revision after one semester, and provide data from assessment and thematic coding of students' reflection papers.     

From boats to bushes: environmental elements supportive of children’s sociodramatic play outdoors

ABSTRACT

Sociodramatic play is a central activity of early childhood, one influenced by the nature of the environment where it occurs. Using the Smilansky Scale for the Evaluation of Dramatic and Socio Dramatic Play (Smilansky and Shefatya, 1990), this study compared the frequency and complexity of the sociodramatic play of two groups of fifteen 4–5 year old children in two preschool outdoor spaces differing in natural elements, resources, and spatial characteristics. Field notes and behaviour mapping were also employed to explore potential associations between the play characteristics, and specific elements and areas of the two spaces. Findings showed the following elements supported more frequent and complex sociodramatic play: a balanced conjunction of man-made resources and significant vegetation and natural loose parts; opportunities for seclusion and lack of overcrowding; linking pathways and open-ended design. The findings have implications for the design of outdoor spaces that support the frequency and complexity of children’s sociodramatic play.     

武陟嘉应观中的建筑意探析

建筑意包括建筑的艺术形式和艺术内涵.嘉应观作为官式祭祀建筑,集宫、庙、衙为一体,其整体布局规整中富于变化,单体建筑风格多样,既体现了建筑的形式之美,又蕴涵了丰富的政治、文化、艺术等潜意识的元素.     

Children's Perceptions of the Use of Public Open Spaces for Active Free-play

Activity performed by children in their free-time may have a significant impact on overall physical activity levels, however, very little is known about the influences on children's active free-play. To examine the role and use of public open spaces, 132 children (6–12 years) from a selection of primary schools participated in small focus group interviews. Children reported that their use of public open spaces was influenced by a combination of intrapersonal, social and environmental factors including; the play equipment and facilities at local parks, lack of independent mobility, urban design features, presence of friends, and personal motivation.