In the Spring, the Architecture Centre undertook a Connected Communites research project for the University of Bristol, exploring the idea of Bristol as a child friendly city (inspired by the UNCEF global CFC initiative).This project culminated in a kickstarter event, report and a series of case-studies. The Bristol Child Friendly City Working Group (Architecture Centre, Playing Out, Room 13 and Bristol University) were keen involve a wider group in the next stage of the journey of making Bristol a more child friendly city, organising a networking event aiming to bring together a diverse range of people from across the city.Held at the Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol on Thursday 9 July, the agenda for this kickstarter event included:
- A task on arrival – mapping existing child friendly activity in Bristol
- A general welcome and introduction
- A talk from guest speaker Tim Gill, one of the UK’s leading thinkers on childhood
- A presentation on Bristol Child Friendly City and the story so far
- A themed workshop/discussion on what is good in Bristol in terms of child friendliness; what’s not so good; aspirations for the future and how we can achieve them
- Split into teams to discuss different themes (intergenerational city; children’s voice and democracy; arts, culture and creativity; nature, green spaces and water; places/public space; movement/freedom and access) the teams then fed-back to the rest of the group.
- A reflection on discussions by Tim Gill
- A discussion on the next steps for Bristol Child Friendly City (one small action, network, steering group, website, case studies, symposium event).
Many thanks to all of you who attended the Child Friendly City Network event and for participating with such positivity. Around 50 people from a diverse range of sectors across the city were present to discuss the idea, and at least the same number again could not attend but want to be kept in touch.
A big thank you also to our guest speaker Tim Gill for his inspiring presentation and the University of Bristol Centre for Public Engagement for supporting the event.