Anna Schledorn on playful participation in Regensburg

© City of Regensburg

The city of Regensburg in Germany is often considered an inspiration in designing the urban space together with children. We spoke with Anna Schledorn, social worker and youth welfare planner in Regensburg, about the city’s playful approach to child participation in local policy making.

Play as an accelerator for child participation

UNICEF has highlighted the importance of play in children’s healthy emotional, intellectual, social, and physical development, yet it is often not prioritised when planning our daily surroundings.

The City of Regensburg, a picturesque medieval city in southern Germany, has decided to give play the importance it deserves. The city’s youth welfare planner, Anna Schledorn, coordinates the city’s overall efforts to become more child-friendly, and by implication, also more play-friendly.  Schledorn says that an essential part of this is having “room for children to play”.

While the importance of play may be ignored, it is often the entry point for cities wishing to engage children in decision-making. So, too, in Regensburg, where a wish to make the city more playful has increased children’s opportunities to make their voices heard, on issues that span way beyond the design of the local playgrounds.

According to Schledorn, play is a natural entry point to participation, as it is a field where adults readily recognize children’s expertise in defining how they like to play. Children are the only ones who know how play-friendly their city is. They know the specific parts of a local area which are well suited to play, as well as those which may be dangerous or simply unwelcoming. By sharing what the city looks like from their eyes, children open decision-makers’ eyes to problems they did not see before. What starts as a consultation on a playground rarely stays just that.

Meaningful engagement on play

When it comes to decisions related to play and leisure, Regensburg has made it mandatory to consult children on the design of new public spaces. This means that Schledorn and other professionals have facilitated numerous consultation processes to inform the city’s urban planning decisions, from playground projects to the renewal of entire neighbourhoods.

Rather than focusing on equipment, the consultations often start with conversations to map out children’s needs. How do they like to move around the city or while playing? What do they need to unwind after a long day in school? Open-ended questions allow children to engage creatively and be genuine in their feedback and opinions.

For the participation to be meaningful, a wide range of stakeholders need to be involved in the process. According to Schledorn, at the local level, it is key that consultations include professionals and policy makers who can act on the opinions and advice of children. This accountability is at the heart of meaningful participation. In Regensburg, this means that local decision-makers participate in neighbourhood walks with children, for example.

“This is what makes the difference between theoretically doing something and actually doing something. This is why it is important to bring decision-makers and children together”, Schledorn says. In Regensburg, participation cuts across numerous local government departments, and part of Schledorn’s role is to make sure these cross-sectoral efforts are coordinated.

Participation for all

There is not uniform, or “one size fits all”, approach or way to carry out child participation. Participation will naturally look different depending on age group, but a variety of other factors also come into play. Schledorn points to income disparities, education, and language ability which may call for a tailored approach to participation. Children’s diversity is, of course, to be celebrated, and it is important that this is reflected in governance systems which cater to them.

Regensburg has sought to address this by bringing child participation processes to the neighbourhood-level, and organising targeted consultations with specific groups of children, for example children with disabilities. One recent example of an inclusive participation process is Brixenpark, an award-winning park in southern Regensburg. Children were consulted in the planning process of the park’s design, with a focus on including different demographics of children. This uncovered needs the city may not have thought of otherwise. For example, children from low-income families raised the importance of outdoor spaces for birthday celebrations due to smaller housing that cannot accommodate guests for festivities. The park now includes a barbeque area for festivities.

From the playground to the entire city

The city’s approach to participatory urban planning goes beyond playgrounds to include entire neighbourhoods. Schledorn and other city officials are now working on the analysis of a third neighbourhood in the city in consultation with children. The city’s so-called ‘Masterplan of Play’

(Spielleitplanung) approach includes, for example, neighbourhood walks with different age groups of children to map out areas they find important, dangerous, or unwelcoming.

Ultimately, Schledorn believes that working together with children means that children are not constrained within the boundaries of playgrounds to explore, socialize, and relax.

“The perfect city doesn’t need a playground, because the whole city is the playground”, Schledorn says, summarizing the city’s approach to building the city with children’s needs in mind.

Bio

Anna Schledorn is a social worker and the youth welfare planner of the department of municipal youth work of the City of Regensburg in Germany. For more than a decade, she has been coordinating the child- and family-friendliness efforts of the city. Regensburg’s pioneering work on child participation, participatory planning and child-friendliness standards for urban planning has been recognised worldwide, and has earned two subsequent nominations for the UNICEF Cities Inspire Awards and a UNICEF Child Friendly City recognition.