Thread by @JonnyAnstead

Great to see the spotlight turn this week on the role of our cities in the wellbeing of our children. Hats off to @dbornat for championing the rights of kids of all backgrounds to play together. For me this raises some wider questions.. (thread, 1/10) theguardian.com/society/2019/j…

Putting children first in planning has implications: as @neilmurphy1978 points out in his excellent thread, we have to *decide* whether we want our streets to prioritise cars or kids. They can’t be optimised for both. (2/10)

And placing kids above cars means wider benefits too: the health benefits of great physical activity, better air quality (see work of @mumsforlungs) and increased opportunities for greener public realm like this. (3/10)

BUT the discussion this week seems to me to be a part of a much wider movement towards *listening* to children and young people. @GretaThunberg and thousands of others have started that conversation. (4/10)

I recently spent two days with young people using Minecraft to talk about the future of their town. Spoiler: they did *not* want loads of additional car parking and improved highway capacity. (5/10)

They designed streets that were full of plants and streams, and that were fun to walk down and play in, like this one. (6/10)

The workshops were run by
@BlockBuildersUK whose mission is to use Minecraft to engage kids in planning and the environment. If you haven’t seen it, I’d recommend watching their TedX talk. (7/10)

No wonder that by talking with youngsters you get a different response to standard consultation: a 2012 report by the Intergenerational Foundation @inter_gen reported that the *average age of town and parish councillors was 60*. (8/10)

At the heart of this is a question about fairness between generations. Young people aren’t only forgotten about when it comes to play, but are increasingly excluded from house ownership (see @PricedOutUK). And they are innocent bystanders to the climate emergency. (9/10)

If we want cities that are fit for the future, we need to think radically about putting those who have most at stake in the future at the heart of our thinking, planning and even our decision-making processes. (10/10)