5 Tips to Help Your Child “See” Their City

5 Tips to Help Your Child “See” Their City

Increase you child’s awareness of the city that surrounds them with these 5 tips from www.futureplanners.city

As you go through the city with your son or daughter, try these helpful suggestions which aim to open their minds to thinking about community and their important role in the city fabric:

(1) Encourage your children to see the city as theirs, an entity in which they
should give a critical eye, as to what works and what does not and consider
how things can be improved?

(2) Think about what they “see” and how they “feel” as they move through a neighborhood, from the widths of the sidewalks (infrastructure)
to the speed of the flow of car traffic (transportation methods), how is it
experienced?

(3) Introduce concepts of high and low residential density, a high-rise
and a brownstone are different, why?

(4) Reveal that city elements like “urban furniture” from bus stop
benches to bike racks are designed but see if they can discover and
point out un-designed urban furniture that they see in their
communities.

(5) Demonstrate that thinking about their neighborhood and city can
be fun and cool because they become experts on determining what makes
great shared public spaces.

 

 


Photo Credit: Benedetto Davi

The hidden city.

Each layer is created by days and years, people and movements, politics and community bumping and flowing into and through each other like jazz notes – the city is built in moments, it develops, matures, ages, becomes derelict and is reborn in some small way everyday, through the air, through the streets, through the city-zens.

Aminah Ricks, 2017, Nolita NYC

 

 

 

Photo Credit: Aminah Ricks

Top 5 Urban Escapes

Top 5 Urban Escapes

The city offers a symphony of sounds. Sometimes these sounds are welcoming – an impromptu jazz trio in the park, children laughing or the brisk sweeping of a storefront sidewalk.  Sometimes these sounds are unwelcoming – police sirens, garbage trucks or the screeching of brakes, avoiding a pedestrian.

We city dwellers accept the noise and chaos.  It seems a small price to pay for all the incredible benefits urban life can provide daily.  However, many city dwellers seek to find a balance between the calm and the crazy, to gain back a bit of serenity and to keep us even keeled within the urban landscape.

dining alone

Here is a curated list of our team’s favorite five Urban Escapes:

  1. Take a book, magazine or tablet to a park or street bench and pretend to read while actually people watch, being mesmerized by the un-rehearsed street theatre.
  2. Visit a favorite neighborhood cinema to watch film after film, with cell phone off and imagination on.
  3. Step into a yoga or meditation center for any class that focuses on deep breathing and relaxation.
  4. Eat alone, in a quiet café or restaurant with no need to make any effort except to enjoy a complete meal, its smells, its texture and its tastes.
  5. Go to any tall building with public access to the rooftop and take a macro view of the city as a whole, above the noise and distraction, simply appreciating the view.

 Photo Source for both images: unsplash.com

Elevating City Life