Transient Spaces Lecture Series  Little Eyes, Big Cities: Young Children Reimagine Urban Environments

As more children grow up in cities, designing urban environments that meet their needs has become increasingly crucial. However, young children’s experiences and visions for liveable, resilient, and inclusive cities are often overlooked in urban planning. This paper presents a participatory research project with 76 children (aged 3–4 years) from Dunedin and Wellington, New Zealand. Through a tile-based mapping exercise and a photo-elicitation activity, children shared how they experience and envision their cities—ranging from imaginative constructions to realistic urban representations. The photographs they took offer a unique lens through which we can view their urban environments, providing rich insights into their everyday experiences, spatial interactions, and the ways in which social and built environments shape their lives. By centering children’s perspectives, this research highlights the importance of inclusive urban design that fosters well-being, play, and connection. It calls for cities that support the flourishing and resilience of both human communities and the more-than-human world, paving the way for more just, equitable, and child-friendly urban futures.

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