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Draw and Re-design Their Neighbourhood:

Neighbourhood description” and “What they want to change? Why?”

After a warm-up and verbal descriptions children were asked first to “draw” their neighbourhood in details where not the “quality of the drawing” but the quality of reflecting the environment in details such that a “foreigner” could imagine “how the place they live” looks like. They then were asked to pretend to be a “city planner” and redesign their neighbourhood in a way that makes life easier and more enjoyable for them and for other livings in their neighbourhood. In Istanbul practice, they also presented their  ideas and solutions to the group and to their parents which represented the “city council”…   

 

The outputs of the workshops has been gathered under certain headings that fairly cover their rich observations, ideas and solutions to the issues they tracked. This also provides a base for a comparison between children’s common and “different” positions living in different cultures and environments. 

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Some of the most common ISTANBUL outcomes

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LOCAL LIFE

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Istanbul workshops were carried out with children representing a rich socio-economic mix and a wide range of districts. As a general observation, it is seen that the more children “experience” and “interact” with their neighborhoods the more they are able to have well observations about area and draw in more detail. 

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DETECTING SOCIAL PROBLEMS

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In line with this, children from lower socio-economical backgrounds are more likely to interprete on real “social problems” and find solutions, while children from private schools seem less “trained” to detect and solve such problems, that may be referred to their life experience.

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LIVING IN A TRADITIONAL NEIGHBORHOOD

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Childen who live in the areas where the traditional, local neighborhood culture is still preserved. They have a  more detailed sense of observation about their neighborhood which appear both in their drawings and oral expressions. These drawings mostly include many types of “local artizans” (tailor, butcher, hardwareman etc…) which are mostly reflected with their actual names. Children are more likely to keep the “local artizans” in their areas without transforming or substituding them with big shopping centers.

 

The neighbours are included in almost all drawings either referred as “neigbour” or with their actual names or with their friend’s names. Neighbours are also kept as they are during the revised drawings.

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GREEN AND PLAY AREAS

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All children are aware of the absence of sufficient public and play areas and in their re-designings they  seek for and create safe, green areas to be “out” and play. They are also passionate to disabled, old people and animals.

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SCHOOLS

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Schools play an important role in their lives in the sense of their being a very important issue of concern. Their post/revised drawings and suggested solutions clearly reflect that they are aware of the problems of the education system.

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Some of the most common ROTTERDAM outcomes

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LOCAL LIFE

 

The children who participated the workshops  do not leave their neighbourhood quite often. They mainly walk and live in and around their own streets. The world of these children is quite small. This can be noticed on the drawings as their drawings in general, reflect only their own streets.

 

Children in the ‘Schiemond’ area have a wider view of their neighbourhood. Perhaps because of the setting of their neighbourhood, which is next to the River Maas. Children of Schiemond are aware that their neighbourhood is beside the river Maas. The children of Delfshaven who seem more squeezed in their narrow neighbourhood, walk and live in and around their streets and this was directly reflected in their drawings . Although public transportation is highly accessable, it expensive.

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SCHOOLS

 

Schools play a major role in children’s daily life. School gardens are important for social interaction and to satisfy their open space play area needs. 

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DETECTING SOCIAL PROBLEMS

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Not many children are able to detect the social problems in their areas and try finding solutions to them in their revised drawings.

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Children are quite happy with the area the life in, there is plenty space to play outside. They add soccer fields (called Johan Cruijff Fields), quite a lot swimming pools to play more.  

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Children are likely aware of waste in their neighbourhood. During the association assignments about ‘the Smell of Rotterdam’ children mentioned ‘waste’ and ‘garbage’ a lot. They won’t increase the number of trash bins in their areas however keep them in the drawings.

Picture 2 - A. Kızıl, grade 4: "We have many cats in our neighborhood. For them, I turned the internet cafe into a cat house. Our next door neighboor is "Ersan Abi". I kept his home as it is"

Picture 3 - Z.C.Günaydın, grade 5: "The big shopping mall Akasya is breaking our peace. So I turned it into a hospital. There were too many buildings in my area, I added trees and a sport facility."

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Picture 5 - A child from Rotterdam:"Our school garden is always very crowded. So I added other playing areas."

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Picture 4 - D. Åžensoy, grade 8:"In my neighborhood there are many private schools but only one public school and it's very crowded. That's why I added another public school near by"

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Picture 1 - G. Aydın, grade 4: "I added a bicycle road and also a special road for the disabled. I turned the mosque into a libray. I turned the bakery into a hospital. I turned a house into an animal shelter. I turned the post office into a parking lot. The people and animals of this area will live a better life now"

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Picture 7 - A child from Rotterdam :

To see the whole project report, please download the link below

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