ADVENTURE IN
THE CITY
A qualitative study on parental perceptional differences on adventurous playing
Giancarlo Barbato Argostraat 29 1033ED Amsterdam 5788986
Master thesis Human Geography Course code: 7354102004 August 2016
Supervisor: Lia Karsten Co-supervisor: Stefan Metaal
1 Contents Page Foreword 3 1. Introduction 4 1.1 Problem definition 5
1.2 Relevance and research aim 7
1.3 Research question 7
2. Theoretical Framework 9
2.1 A brief history on adventurous playing 9
2.2.What is adventurous playing and how is it generally structured? 10
2.3 The contemporary parental discourse on a good childhood 13
2.4 Explaining parenting style differences 18
2.4.1 Socio-economic influences on child rearing practices 18
2.4.2 Cultural influences on child rearing practices 19
3. Methodological Framework 22
3.1 Conceptual framework and sub-questions 22
3.2 Operationalization 25
3.3 Research design; strategy and used methods 27
3.4 Setting and population 28
3.5 Data collection 30
3.6 Data analysis 33
3.7 Ethical considerations 34
4. Adventurous playing in Amsterdam: an overview of the cases 35
4.1 Het Woeste Westen 35
4.1.1 General characteristics 35
4.1.2 Environment 37
4.1.3 Playground organization and social function 39
4.1.4 Provision of playful activities and play equipment 41
4.2 Jeugdland 42
4.2.1 General characteristics 42
4.2.2 Environment 43
4.2.3 Playground organization and social function 46
4.2.4 Provision of playful activities and play equipment 47
4.3 Similarities and differences 50
5. Defining urban childhoods: parental perspectives 51
5.1 Institutionalized activities 51
5.1.1 Activity overview 51
5.1.2 Spent time and money 54
5.2 Non-institutionalized activities 55
5.2.1 Outdoor play 55
5.2.2 Indoor play 59
5.2.3 Family activities 60
5.3 Socio-economic and cultural remarks on childhood 61
6. Adventurous playing: what do parents think? 63
6.1 Strengths and weaknesses of adventurous playing 63
6.1.1 Green notion in the urban 64
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6.1.3 Independent; risk assessing and able-bodied children 67
6.2 Involvement with adventurous playing 68
6.3 Quality time qualities 71
6.4 Socio-economic and cultural influences on adventurous play 73
7. Adventurous play in practice 75
7.1 Observation review 75
7.2 Forms of play 77
7.2.1 Free natural play 77
7.2.2 Supervised natural play 79
7.2.3 Free building and crafting 80
7.2.4 Supervised building and crafting 81
7.3 Play differences between children 82
8. Children’s perceptions on adventurous playing 84
8.1 Participant observation review 84
8.2 Perceptions 85
8.2.1 Natural involvement 85
8.2.2 Involvement of man-made tools 88
8.2.3 Organization of activities 90
8.2.4 Supervision 91
8.3 Differences between children 92
9. Conclusion 93
10. Discussion 95
10.1 Interpreting the results 95
10.2 Limitations 96
10.3 Recommendations for further research 97
References 98
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Foreword
Writing a master’s thesis has been a meaningful part of my life as a student. During the first eight months of this year, I had the opportunity to conduct an interesting study on a more than fun topic. I am grateful to have had the possibility to do this, and I would like to thank those that were involved during the process.
First of all, I would like to thank Lia Karsten for the support in all phases of this thesis project. Besides monitoring this project, Lia came up with valuable ideas, much needed feedback and interesting insights that definitely enhanced the results in this thesis.
Furthermore, I would like to thank Martin Hup and Michael Bakker for their support in making this project a successful one. Without their fruitful collaboration before and during the fieldwork period, it would be a lot more difficult to conduct this research. Besides Martin and Michael, I also would like to express my gratitude towards all other involved people related to Het Woeste Westen and Jeugdland. Their insights and involvements definitely helped me to conduct a thorough and meaningful study.
A word of thanks is also given to the parents and the children that have participated in this research. Without their collaboration, it would have been impossible to collect data. All parents and children however, helped in the best ways possible.
A final special word of gratitude is given to my parents. Unfortunately, this year was characterized by a series of unforeseen moments of deep sadness. Sometimes, there was even more in life than just a master’s thesis. Although it was often difficult to find the motivation in these difficult circumstances, my parents’ support and sacrifices always kept me on the right track. This project would not have been a success without their thoughts, their help and, above all, their unconditional love.
Giancarlo Barbato Amsterdam, August 14, 2016
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1. Introduction
‘A kid today can likely tell you about the Amazon rain forest—but not about the last time he or she explored the woods in solitude, or lay in a field listening to the wind and watching the clouds move.’
Louv (pp. 1 – 2, 2008)
The quote above is derived from Louv’s influential work The Last Child in the Woods, in which Louv addresses the harmful effects of the decreased exposure of children to nature in the American society of today. Somewhat similar seems to occur in Dutch society as well. According to contemporary popular parlance, loads of Dutch urban children seldom seem to come home after playing with their faces completely black of dirt, their pants covered in mud; their shirts totally ripped apart and their shoes soaking wet. It seems that playing is ‘restricted’ to happen inside or on the available ‘rubbertegel’ (rubber safety tile-paved) playgrounds; away from the physical and moral dangers and filth of the urban outside. Instead, young urban children are living and playing according to a tight weekly schedule, often under supervision of their parents or professionals at school; associations or clubs. Furthermore, it is commonly acknowledged that children’s playful imagination is hijacked by the worlds of virtual gaming realities; flashy televised cartoons and various internet vlogs. Screen-related factors, which to a certain extent, seem to make children becoming more sedentary in their prepubescent youth, as it lets children believe that there is no such thing as the actual adventurous outdoors.
As such, it seems that playing outside freely and adventurous in the more rough and green areas has become something nearly impossible. The valuable experiences that can be gathered through more adventurous playing possibilities, like for example tree climbing, playful natural crafting and ditch clambering, seem to be somehow neglected in contemporary childhood. Therefore, these children do not reap the benefits of what the adventurous outside has to offer to them. Harsh cynics would even say that these young children already have had clear misses in their short lives, and will eventually brand them as yet another ‘lost generation’, even before anyone of them has even reached adulthood.
To stigmatize a whole generation of young children however, would not be fair and most ruthless. Above all, it would be a far from rational point to make either. It therefore might not be that surprising that the viewpoint as presented throughout this paragraph, is exaggerated to a certain extent. Nevertheless, according to contemporary academic evidence it indeed seems that the free and adventurous outdoor part of urban childhood is somewhat under pressure
5 nowadays, as it seems that contemporary urban childhood is filled with a multitude of suspected risks and challenges.
1.1 Problem definition
Recent processes of gentrification and urbanization have led towards the situation in which young children have become omnipresent in Dutch urban regions (Kooiman & Latten, 2013). From 2008 onwards, the amount of young children in the four big cities’ (Amsterdam; Rotterdam; The Hague and Utrecht) ‘strongly urbanized neighborhoods’ has been on the rise. The increase is often explained through the housing preferences of highly educated (upper) middle-class young urban professionals that have started to begin families and eventually decided to stay in the city, because it fitted closely to their everyday urban lifestyles. It is therefore, that we see the emergence of young urban professional parents (Karsten, 2014a). These trends however, are not only bound to the Dutch context. In various other cities across Europe (Lillius, 2014; Rerat, 2012) and North America (Zukin, 2011), young urban families have fabricated a strong claim on the city as well.
In an answer on these wishes of urbanizing young and highly educated middle-class families, cities have catered themselves towards the cultural and consumptive needs and housing preferences of these families (Karsten, 2014b; Zukin, 2011). However, neither city is only constructed by a reality of middle-class families with high amounts of social capital. Evidence from an Amsterdam-based study (Boterman & Karsten, 2015) suggests that a lot of less well-off, non-western migrant families with young children are living within the urban limits of the city either. Most of them are of Turkish or Moroccan descent. The numbers on these particular groups of families, as well as those of highly educated, middle-class urban families, have also risen in the past couple of decades, eventually contributing to the diverse familial nature of the city of Amsterdam.
Besides issues related to socio-economic and cultural diversity, cities like Amsterdam are also characterized through their constant fight with potential lack of space for people’s daily activities (Karsten & Felder, 2016). Whilst cities try to be as attractive as possible in order to prevent decline amongst its population, we have to understand that increased attraction for a typical urban lifestyle has its perks for the sparsely available urban space as well. Typical city-related issues, such as high building density; increased car importance and the exploitation of a certain middle-class urban lifestyle cause cities to become more crowded and dense over time. Within this situation, different groups of people try to find their own way in coping with contemporary city life. For some of these groups, this can even be a real struggle.
6 Among those groups, we also see young urban children. Regardless of their background, it is quite a challenge for them to compete for space with other users in the city. While most urban spaces are mostly catered towards adults, less space is left for young children in the city. Studies (Valentine, 1996; Karsten, 2005) suggest that over time public space has been transformed from child space towards adult space in which there is less place for children. This has an effect on the playing possibilities of young urban children as well, as the evidence also states that playing outside has become much more limited in terms of time, company and activities due to parental choices. The traditional adventurous childhood of outdoor children as we know from the 1950s and 1960s seems to have made place for other childhood types in which children are more bound to increased supervision, institutionalization and orchestration of their childhood as initiated by their parents and other professionals; the increase of newly emerged, less risky forms of indoor and outdoor play; and the decline of adventurous, green forms of play (Karsten & Bouw, 2004; Karsten & Felder, 2016; Karsten, 2005).
Therefore, it is interesting to see whether and how young urban families have adjusted themselves to this situation in which adventurous playing possibilities have become seemingly less prominent in the everyday urban lives of their children. One of the major issues within wider contemporary childhood debates is to which extent cities have created possibilities for the adventurous outdoor play. Evidence suggests that adventurous outdoor play is often seen as a pivotal and enriching element in childhood (Roetman, 2009; Van Rooijen, 2014). Nevertheless, the possibilities to play adventurous in the urban outdoors have diminished rapidly in the past decades due to the before mentioned urbanization- and gentrification-related issues like densification and increased car importance. As such, it seems that all forms of adventurous playing have disappeared and eventually have relocated to certain designated areas close to city parks or even the outskirts of the city limits. However, besides the built effects of urbanization and gentrification hampering the availability of playable and green adventurous space, it is the contemporary parental discourse on what a good and fruitful childhood encompasses that is often seen as a factor that influences the free adventurous outdoor playing possibilities of young children in a somewhat influencing manner either.
Here, issues on changing attitudes among families about how to raise children in a proper ‘emancipated’ urban fashion (Karsten, 2014ab; Vincent & Ball, 2007); time pressure of working parents and their children (Skår et al, 2016a); a wide set of parental fears (Valentine, 1997); and the discussion whether to let children play freely or institutionalized (Holloway & Pimlott-Wilson, 2014) are often mentioned as key elements in understanding the contemporary
7 parental discourse on the upbringing of children. Therefore, it seems that, despite the exaggeration in the beginning of this chapter, playing outside adventurous and freely in the urban is indeed under pressure nowadays. Having said that, I would argue that it is necessary to look critically at the adventurous outdoor notion within the wider contemporary parental discourse, since many children in The Netherlands will be growing up in urban regions in the nearby future.
1.2 Relevance and research aim
The general undertone of what a good upbringing of children encompasses, is mainly that it forms a solid and safe fundament for children to reach adulthood. However, it is assumable that the interpretation of what this upbringing encompasses, differs widely throughout families. What parents perceive as enriching and harmful to their children is closely related to general thoughts about childhood and the socio-economic and cultural mechanisms that exist within their family.
This thought is closely linked to Bourdieu’s (1990) notion of habitus. The ways how parents fill in the lives of their children and how their children look upon certain parts in childhood, are closely related with these various familial mechanisms. Besides a general notion among parents on what a good childhood encompasses, the socio-economic and cultural background influences the upbringing of their children in various ways. It is assumable that these factors also influence the viewpoints of parents and their children towards adventurous playing, and as such, these factors are interesting factors to conduct research upon in order to understand how today’s urban children are playing adventurous in Dutch urban regions.
In this thesis, I have chosen to conduct research among parents and children from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds, involved with adventurous playing at two adventure playgrounds, in order to get a greater grasp on how they cope with adventurous playing in the everyday urban lives of themselves and their children. Here, I have solely focused on families that lived in Amsterdam. It is safe to state that Amsterdam is a culturally, ethnically and socio-economically diverse city, heavily influenced by processes of urbanization and gentrification and the enhanced emancipation of families in the last couple of decades. Therefore, Amsterdam can be regarded as an interesting playground to conduct this type of research upon.
1.3 Research question
To get a broader insight in the views and actions of the parents and children in Amsterdam with regard to adventurous outdoor playing, it is therefore necessary to conduct
8 research in which the actual undertaking of playful activities among children and the parental thoughts concerning these adventurous activities are being interpreted. Therefore, I have managed to conduct a fieldwork at two adventure playground locations. The empirical material collected during the fieldwork period was used to find an answer on the following research question: How does the contemporary parental discourse on a good childhood influence young
children’s participation in adventure playgrounds in Amsterdam; and what differences do we see between parents and children based on socio-economic and cultural characteristics?
A set of five sub-questions has been asked, in order to find an answer on the main research question. Before I focus on the answering of this particular set of questions, I will first present a theoretical framework about the central theoretical themes within this study in the second chapter. Furthermore, I will give an explanation on the chosen research design; the used methods and the data collection, as well as a presentation of the sub-questions in the third chapter of this thesis. The chapters four up to and including eight will be on the actual analysis of the collected fieldwork data. This thesis ends with a chapter dedicated to the conclusive remarks and a chapter dedicated to the general discussion; research limitations; and further research recommendations respectively.
The goal of this research is to enhance existing knowledge with regard to studies concerning childhood in urban regions in general, and The Netherlands in particular. With this thesis, I would like to provide an insight in the situation of urban parents and children with regard to pivotal child rearing practices in a challenging environment. With the urban becoming more intertwined with the everyday lives of children in the nearby future, it becomes increasingly more important to focus on the various aspects that add new and interesting dimensions into childhood.
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2. Theoretical Framework
Various theories are used to find out how the parental discourse on the upbringing of children influences the participation of these children in adventure playgrounds. In this chapter, these theories will be elaborated more thoroughly. First, theories on adventurous playing will be explained. Second, the main themes that are central within contemporary parental discourses on childhood will be discussed. Lastly, this chapter will end with a part in which attention is given to the wider discussion on childhood in terms of socio-economic and cultural characteristics of families in order to make the differences that exist between the families and their children more understandable. I will begin however by giving a short overview of the history on adventurous playing in general.
2.1 A brief history on adventurous playing
Ideas on the adventurous playing seem to be of all times. However, the topic attracted greater interest in the period between the both World Wars. Motivated to create better and livable spaces for families and children, the Danish landscape architect Carl Theodor Sørensen, posited his ideas about new and challenging playgrounds back in the 1930s:
‘I am thinking in terms of an area, not too small in size, well close off from its surroundings by thick greenery, where we should gather, for the amusement of bigger children, all sorts of old scrap that the children from the apartment blocks could be allowed to work with, as the children in the countryside and in the suburbs already have. There could be branches and waste from tree polling and bushes, old cardboard boxes, planks and boards, “dead” cars, old tires and lots of other things, which would be a joy for healthy boys to use for something.’
Sørensen (in De Conick-Smith, 1999 pp. 13)
A couple of years later, Sørensen joined forces with the Copenhagen schoolteacher Hans Dragehjelm in order to develop an architectural proposal for the Dyrehavens Familie og
Børnepark (Dyrehaven Family and Children’s park) nearby Copenhagen. In the proposal,
Dragehjelm was searching to develop a place in order to find an outlet for young children’s urge for nature:
‘I am thinking in particular of the chance to play in open terrain, among trees and bushes, and in close contact with small animals, to which children in big cities in particular usually have no access..’
Dragehjelm (in De Conick-Smith, 1999 pp. 4)
Although the main proposal did not pass, the seeds for a certain adventurous thought with regard to childhood were planted. With that in mind, Sørensen and Dragejhelm did not fail
10 to persevere, and it is therefore that in 1943, amidst a period of severe Nazi occupation, the
Skrammellegepladsen (Junk Playground) in Emdrup, a village nearby Copenhagen was
established.
After the Second World War, the ideas on adventurous playing started to spread throughout Europe rapidly. In 1946, the ideas from Denmark gathered the interest of Lady Allen of Hurtwood. During a small stop-over visit to Copenhagen on her journey to a lecture in Norway, she briefly visited the Emdrup playground. Although the visit did not last that long, it surely had an impact:
‘I was completely swept off my feet by my first visit to the Emdrup playground. In a flash of understanding I realized that I was looking at something quite new and full of possibilities. There was a wealth of waste material on it, and no man-made fixtures. The children could dig, build houses, experiment with sand, water or fire and play games of adventure and make-believe.’
Allen (in Wilson, 2010, pp. 7)
2.2 What is adventurous playing and how is it generally structured?
The passages as described in paragraph 2.1 show that the main idea on adventurous playing is, that children can play freely and imaginative with a wide variety of tools and forms of play in a rough, green setting, without the direct and strict supervision of adults. This thought is clearly in line with Spock’s (1946) notion of free-range parenting. Here, it is suggested that children can, to a large extent, function independently in proper accordance of their age with a reasonable acceptance of existing risks.
Furthermore, today’s academic literature on childhood, although not particularly focused on adventurous or outdoor playing in general, has stated that playing outside roughly and freely might enable children to gain valuable knowledge. It is thought that by playing adventurous, children learn several social and educational skills (Skår et al, 2016b); gain knowledge about ‘unsafe’ objects and natural elements; learn to get hurt (Boonstra, 2004) and train their gross motor skills (ibid, 2004; Skår et al, 2016a). Furthermore, it is thought that children obtain valuable risk assessment knowledge (Roetman, 2009; Skår et al, 2016ab; Van Rooijen, 2014) and gain confidence about the risks that they might confront during play (Valentine, 2004; Jansson, 2015). Studies also suggest that children love playing outside in general (Karsten & Felder, 2016); crave for rough terrain (Valentine & McKendrick, 1997) and constantly develop new forms of activities (Cele, 2006; Jansson, 2015). Louv (2008) even states that adventurous playing is beneficial for children with psychiatric disorders like ADHD; enhances creative behavior and strengthens self-esteem among all children.
11 In this thesis I try to study how issues related to the parental discourse on childhood influence the participation of young children in adventure playgrounds. Therefore, it is not only necessary to find out what the benefits of adventurous playing might be, but also to take a closer look at the structure of adventurous playing, by looking at what children actually do during play; and how adventure playgrounds are generally designed. It is therefore, that it is needed to look critically at how adventure playgrounds are generally structured either.
Since adventure playgrounds began to be built in various parts of the world rapidly after the Second World War, attempts were made to define clearly what adventure playgrounds actually were. Although the pre-War thinkers already had some broad ideas in mind, a somewhat ‘standardized’ idea was needed in order to make more understandable what adventurous playing and adventure playgrounds actually were. It is therefore that back in 1953, the National Playing Fields Association (NPFA) based in London, categorized the concept of adventure playgrounds in twofold ways (Benjamin, 1974). Here, much of the ideas were derived from the Danish and British pre-World War thought. Yet, the concept was given a more palpable and organizable form. It is therefore, that they presented the following adventure playground categorization:
- Junk playgrounds: ‘Chiefly bombed sites where bricks, timber and various materials have given
the children a creative outlet for building walls and forts and generally exercising their imagination.’
- Natural adventure playgrounds: ‘Either a rough undulating site, probably an overgrown quarry or a site that has not been cleared and leveled but which is left with its natural features – the children playing games over fallen tree trunks and up and down miniature hills and hollows.’
It seems that, unlike the traditional urban playgrounds, which are mostly flat; covered in asphalt and predominantly equipped with non-adventurous and unchallenging playing possibilities such as seesaws; swings and metal climbing bars, adventure playgrounds in general represent different, more natural playing possibilities for children, as the environment is rough and diverse in terms of playground equipment, vegetation and topography (Fjortoft, 2004). This diversity in the structured landscape of the adventure playgrounds affords young children to utilize the varying environmental features of the playgrounds in various ways, in accordance with their own imagination.
How children use their space, and thus their imagination, is closely related to what the environment permits them to do (Heft, 1988). Besides the availability of various forms of playground equipment and tools, the environment itself also gives a wide range of possibilities
12 with regard to imaginative and adventurous playing. A form of playful usage like climbing for example, might be possible when trees, hills or even adventurous climbing frames are nearby. However, whilst being different in their respective natural and man-made structure, the trees; the hills and the climbing frame possess a similar shared environmental feature being some kind of terrain that makes it possible to go up and down.
Environmental features therefore, can be used and experienced differently. Due to Fjortoft’s (2004) notion of a diverse built, vegetative and topographical nature of adventure playgrounds, it makes sense to state that adventure playgrounds encompass a multitude of various environmental features, and thus a wide range of potential playful uses. In his work, Lerstrup (2016) distinguishes a total of ten classes of these features that permit certain forms of playful usage and encompass a wide variety of natural forms. The classification of these features was mainly created to give an overview of various environmental features of adventure playgrounds in order to make the concept more understandable for planners; designers and playground managers. An overview of these ten classes, is given below:
- Open ground: A smooth, flat and immobile surface that makes it possible for children to do playful activities.
- Sloping terrain: An immobile surface that makes it possible for children to do playful activities concerning heights and lows.
- Shielded places: Immobile places that give playful opportunities for children to shelter.
- Rigid fixtures: Immobile, attached and climbable objects that cannot be modified and which gives children opportunities to do playful activities.
- Moving fixtures: Immobile objects that cannot be modified; are less rigid in movement and which gives children opportunities to do playful activities.
- Loose objects: Graspable, movable objects that children can use during their playful activities.
- Loose material: Moldable, movable materials and substances that children can use during playful activities
- Water: A substance that children can use and experience in various ways during their playful activities.
- Creatures: The animals in the nearby environment that children an encounter during their playful activities.
13 - Fire: An environmental feature that children can use and experience in various ways
during their playful activities.
Essential in understanding these classes of environmental features is, that they offer possibilities for several adventurous and imaginative playful activities of young children. Lerstrup’s findings (2016) could therefore be used in order to given an extensive overview of how children’s play is generally given shape at adventure playgrounds in terms of structure and playground use. It is therefore that table 2.1 will give a largely illustrative overview of how adventurous playing is generally given shape in terms of play and environment. The table shows, in broad ways, that adventurous playing in adventure playgrounds is generally characterized by the use of a wide range of natural and non-natural playable tools and objects and the implementation of a wide range of playful activities in which the man-made and natural environment is used in various ways.
2.3 The contemporary parental discourse on a good childhood
In his pre-WW II work How to love a child (1914), the Polish pediatrician Janusz Korczak states that parents deny their children the rights to their own death, because they fear the fact that their child can eventually die in any given circumstances. It is therefore that Korczak has plead for a more open approach in parenting. Here, Korczak eventually tries to say that each child has the right to discover, but is being hampered by those that want to protect the child from any possible danger. Each child however, has a certain right to their own living space. Therefore, Korczak states that we should not meddle with them that much during their pastimes.
It seems however that Korczak’s statements do not have stand the test of time, as recent evidence shows that urban parents nowadays are somewhat reluctant on the stance to let children go out to conduct playful activities in a free manner. Despite the fact that urban parents seem to understand what benefits playing outside freely has, they often seem to be trapped in their complex thoughts about how to protect their children from the hostile environment that the urban often seems to be. Vincent & Ball (2007) make notion that children are mostly seen as malleable ‘sacred’ projects, which are not obliged to fail in any possible way. Karsten and Bouw (2004) even state that the ways how parents perceive their children during childhood has shifted in the past decades from strong and able-bodied in earlier times to vulnerable nowadays.
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Table 2.1: A general overview of examples of observable playable objects and tools; and examples of possible activities belonging to an environmental feature at adventure playgrounds
Environmental features (Lerstrup, 2016)
Examples of observable playable objects and tools
Examples of playful activities
Open ground Grass fields
Plains
Walking Running Jumping
Sloping terrain Trees
Hills Rocks Ditches Ponds Walking Running Balancing Jumping Climbing Clambering Sliding Swinging Swimming
Shielded places Caves
Tree branches Barracks/Playhouses Bushes Shrubs Hiding Imagining Fantasizing Exploring Building
Rigid fixtures Trees
Hills Large rocks Bridges Climbing frames Playhouses Running Walking Balancing Climbing Clambering Sliding Moving fixtures Tree branches
Bridges Swings Rope frames Turntables Seesaws Zip-lines Running Walking Hanging Balancing
Loose objects Food
Stones Natural tools Non-natural tools Reeds Seaweed Tree branches Leaves Logs Eating Gathering Tasting Cooking Smearing Exploring Crafting Building
Loose material Mud
Sand Gravel Dirt Smearing Digging Exploring Crawling Creatures Birds Mammals Insects Fishes Reptiles Amphibians Watching Caring Exploring Harming Water Ditches Ponds Lakes Swimming Cooking Sailing Exploring Crawling Fire Campfire Natural fire Cooking Making fire Crafting Building Exploring
15 The ideas seem to be influenced by the notion that childhood, and particularly urban childhood, is to a certain extent unsafe. Fears about stranger-danger; traffic incidents (Holloway & Pimlott-Wilson, 2014; Cele, 2006); obesity; laziness (De Vries et al, 2005; Kraak et al, 2005); computer usage and social and televised media (Valkenburg, 2002); the risk that children are running wild and cause trouble in public space (Valentine, 2004) and even the fear for an unsuccessful adulthood (Katz, 2008; Vincent & Ball, 2007) are often seen as important reasons for parents to prohibit their children to express explorative and curious behavior in their daily lives, like for example during adventurous play.
The effects of the particular shift from perceiving children as vulnerable instead of strong and able-bodied as posited by Karsten and Bouw (2004), shows us two important developments in childhood. First, we see that children seem to play outside less often. A study of the Dutch survey agency TNS Nipo (2013), concluded that 82% of the children between six and twelve years old in the four big cities in The Netherlands do not play outside every day. Nationwide, this percentage is nearly the same at 80%.
Second, it does show that children are being supervised upon more often by their parents and professionals during any kind of activity. It is therefore, that we can speak about an advanced institutionalization of childhood through the enhanced use of supervised spaces other than schools, such as sports clubs; music schools and after-school activity centers. In these spaces, children are enriched with various ideas and tools that should bring them success during later stages of life (Karsten, 2002; Lareau, 2003; Skår et al, 2016ab; Valentine, 1997, 2004; Vincent & Ball, 2007). It seems that the enhanced stimulation of children to develop a wide set of skills in for example sports; music; visual arts or any other kind of hobby in these largely supervised clubs or institutions, has become an important and unmissable part of ‘good parenthood’ today (Karsten & Felder, 2016).
Essential however, is to understand that the emergence of a modern urban society has also created a new norm with regard to other elements in childhood, such as self-initiated play and the revival of quality time between parents and their children. Skår et al. (2016ab) mention that besides the before mentioned fears, time pressure of parents and children themselves could be seen as a hampering element in the self-initiated play of children. As such, issues regarding institutionalized play; inside play at home and screen-time behind game consoles, smartphones or televisions are often regarded as new, but meaningful elements in contemporary childhood that should not be seen that negative at all.
16 With regard to the revival of quality time between parents and their children, theories mainly focus on the growing development of family trips in contemporary urban societies. With cities having become places of consumption instead of production (Zukin, 2011) and the shift of parents to spend more of their spare time with children in comparison with the 1980s (SCP, 2011), family trips seem to be more common in contemporary urban societies (Carr, 2011). These family trips are another clear example of how parents are shaping childhood nowadays.
It is safe to state that the literature shows that the contemporary parental discourse on childhood has been enhanced in various, but complex ways. Explanations can be found in the fact that over time a broad range of factors have been influencing childhood in various ways. It seems therefore, that parental thoughts concerning childhood can be roughly translated to a categorization of two core themes that are important.
First, parents make choices based on what they regard as avoidable or stimulating factors during childhood. Whilst the literature shows that parents are largely aware of the avoidable fears that exist, it is assumable to say that they are aware of the positive, enriching and stimulating mechanisms that exist in childhood as well. This, does also count in broad ways for their stances towards adventurous playing. Besides the fears that exist, parents may seem to give importance to the benefits of adventurous playing (as described in paragraph 2.2 of this theoretical framework) either. An illustrative overview of these avoidable and stimulating factors is given in table 2.2:
Table 2.2: An illustrative overview of avoidable and stimulating factors during childhood Avoidable factors Stimulating factors
- Confronting strangers - Moving through traffic - Getting obese - Getting hurt - Lazy behavior - Weird behavior
- Using social and televised media - Video gaming
- Using computers - Using smartphones - Running wild - Failed adulthood
- Other ‘non-specified’ factors
- Enhance social skills - Enhance educational skills - Enhance creative behavior
- Gain knowledge about new situations - Gain knowledge about ‘unsafe’ situations - Gain knowledge about ‘unsafe’ objects - Gain knowledge about natural elements - Learn to get hurt
- Train gross motor skills
- Obtain risk assessment knowledge - Gain confidence in risky situations - Develop new forms of activities - Strengthen self-esteem
- Using social and televised media - Video gaming
- Using computers - Using smartphones - Excelling in sports - Excelling in visual arts - Excelling in music
17 It is remarkable that some of the factors might contradict with each other. Traffic avoidance might for example contradict with the factor about stimulating the recognition of ‘unsafe’ situations. Yet, this adds on to the complexity of parental thoughts that is associated with the parental discourse on a good childhood in general. It is therefore, that the choices that parents can make with regard to child rearing practices are bound to be somewhat paradoxical. Furthermore, one extra factor is added in both categories. Since this table is used to give an illustrative overview of the elements named in the literature, it might be possible that some other factors are not mentioned in the table. Therefore, these are covered with the term ‘other non-specified factors’ in both categories.
Second, parents seem to structure activities in childhood through the categorization of various styles nowadays. The literature has shown that institutionalized activities (Karsten & Felder, 2016); inside activities (Skår et al, 2016ab) and family activities (given shape through family trips) (Carr, 2011) have become more omnipresent in contemporary urban life. However, it does not say at all that all types of outdoor activities are banished from the everyday lives of urban children. Within the contemporary parental discourse, it seems that activities are therefore given shape through various activity styles. As such, it is justified to make a distinction between five categories, which are:
- Free adventurous activities: Activities that concern issues as presented in table 2.1 - Institutionalized activities: A wide range of activities that are particularly
emphasized through the use of institutionalized, supervised spaces.
- Family activities: Forms of activities in which parents and possible other family members are directly involved.
- Inside activities: Activity forms which are carried out in homely environments. - Other forms of outside activities: Other, non-institutionalized and non-adventurous
forms of activities that happen outside.
Overall, the findings suggest that over time, the meaning of childhood is supplemented with a wide variety of factors that influence the ways how parents look towards children and their upbringing in general. As such, the ways how childhood is structured nowadays, seems to be changed enormously. Yet, the underlying notion of what a good childhood encompasses remains obviously the same, since all parents want their children to be prepared for adulthood in the best ways possible. Nevertheless, the outcomes of how parents approach childhood is subject to factors of varying nature. It is therefore justified to take a closer look at how these
18 factors might influence perceptions on childhood and the actual implementation of parental choices during childhood.
2.4 Explaining parenting style differences
In the introductive chapter it is mentioned that the ways how parents fill in their children’s lives is subject to the socio-economic and cultural mechanisms that exist in families. Various theories suggest that there are interesting differences in parenting styles among parents from different backgrounds concerning these mechanisms. Since this thesis tries to discover the differences that exist between families from various backgrounds in The Netherlands, it is therefore necessary to look at theories that link child rearing practices with socio-economic and cultural factors.
2.4.1 Socio-economic influences on child rearing practices
Lareau (2003) concludes that the different typologies of childrearing have more to do with class rather than race and cultural understanding. In her work, she found out that social class influenced the parenting approaches and therefore significantly impacted the outcomes during children’s educational and working careers. She stated that middle-class families take different approaches to intervene in the lives of their children, in comparison with lower income families. Here, she emphasizes two types of tools that parents from differing socio-economic classes might use to raise their children, which are the concept of concerted cultivation of children and the concept of natural growth of children.
Concerted cultivation is a parenting style that is marked by parental attempts to stimulate their children to do organized, often institutionalized activities. This style of parenting is commonly used by middle class parents that are seemingly more involved with the (orchestrated) support and supervision of their children during their lives. Children that are being concertedly cultivated often seem to express more social prowess in any given social situation and are more often engaged in clubs or other associations.
Natural growth on the other hand, characterizes itself by the situation in which lower income families tend to give their children more unstructured time and freedom of movement to make their own choices to occupy themselves. Here, the environment lacks broader structure in terms of embeddedness in wider institutions, as the parents have less socio-economic opportunities, such as limited time and less money, to help their children to enhance their skills. This laissez-faire approach is often not intentional, but is mainly caused by external factors that limit the parents in their involvement in the upbringing of their children.
19 The theories seem to show that the socio-economic background of families directly influences how children are brought up. It would nonetheless be a bit too firmly stated that this theory is inclusive. Since Lareau’s work (2003) mainly focused on the neoliberal American society, it is questionable whether the same is applicable for Dutch societies as well. With the Dutch society being characterized through its social democratic nature of the economic downfall preventing welfare state, it is questionable to which extent socio-economic constraints might influence child rearing practices in The Netherlands. Studies on immigrant concentrations in Dutch urban contexts, (Musterd & Deurloo, 2001; 2002; Musterd & De Vos, 2007) show that the distributive socio-democratic housing policy has prevented unfavorable issues harming the somewhat aligned socio-economic structure in The Netherlands. It is therefore, that I would say that despite the notion that income gaps also exist in Dutch society, it is assumable to state that these are less wide and significant in comparison with American society and would have therefore significantly less influence in the child rearing practices among families in the Dutch societal context.
It is therefore that we should be somewhat careful in concluding how parents influence the daily lives of their children in the Dutch context, if we relate the choices that parents make with regard to the upbringing of their children, to their socio-economic situation. Nonetheless, it still remains interesting to see how parents from various socio-economic backgrounds with their respective socio-economic constraints, make choices in relation to the adventurous playing possibilities of their children. As such, it is necessary to keep the socio-economic characteristics in mind. Despite the assumed fact that it would be of less importance to determine how this influences children’s daily lives in the Dutch context, it might still be that some issues in childhood, like for example adventurous playing, will be affected by a lack of socio-economic opportunities.
2.4.2 Cultural influences on child rearing practices
Holloway and Pimlott-Wilson (2014) argue that, besides class, cultural explanations are pivotal in understanding the different choices parents make. Here, the importance of class in terms of wealth and poverty is somewhat obscured. In their work, they state that although parents share similar values regarding the upbringing in terms that children need to be prepared perfectly for adulthood, it is pivotal to understand what the parental explanations behind these child rearing choices are, since the cultural background of families is salient in understanding the different patterns that exist with regard to the upbringing of children. Here, a clear line can be drawn with Bourdieu’s notion of habitus (1990). In this theory, it is thought that various
20 people within the sociological field move themselves by developing a certain way of thinking, observing and doing.
However, pivotal in understanding the concept, is that people differ on various terms. The ways how people might behave are therefore related to issues like, as shown by Lareau (2003), socio-economic class, but also to cultural and ethnic background (Holloway & Pimlott-Wilson, 2014). It is assumable that families from a non-native background have a different set of cultural and ethnic rules within their habiti, which are different from native families in society. It is plausible to state that this counts for issues related to childhood as well. As such, Bourdieu’s viewpoint makes it assumable that families from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds have differing cultural interpretations on what they see as beneficial for their children’s upbringing.
Evidence on native Dutch middle-class urban families (Karsten, 2003; 2014ab) suggests that enriching and beneficial activities are largely based to enhance cultural capital; social interaction; and learning capacity. Children seem to be ‘enriched’ by ideas that fit within a middle-class cultural notion of a culturally enhanced childhood through institutionalized events in largely supervised clubs; associations or institutions (Vincent & Ball, 2007). Furthermore, these middle-class parents seem to make eager use of the commercial and cultural initiatives for family quality time that urban regions have catered towards them in the last one and a half decade (Karsten, 2007; 2014ab). Pivotal in understanding Dutch childrearing approaches however, is that most parents aim to be autonomous as well. (Bucx & Roos, 2015). Here, parents emphasize the importance of assertiveness; responsibility and maturity.
Literature on non-western migrant groups in The Netherlands (predominantly those of Moroccan and Turkish descent; and to a lesser extent those from Surinamese or Antillean descent) suggests that due to their predominant lower-income status, these groups remain bound to their peri-urban position with their respective socio-economic and cultural problems (Boterman & Karsten, 2015; Karsten & Bouw, 2006). Jókövi‘s (2000) work on generational differences between Turkish and Moroccan adolescents and their parents and Bucx and Roos’s (2015) extensive explorative research on child rearing practices among families in The Netherlands show that school success, traditional gender roles and religion play an important role in what non-western migrant parents see as pivotal in the upbringing of their children. It is suggested that these issues are mostly important among Muslim and Hindu families.
21 In line with Bourdieu’s thought (1990), it therefore indeed seems that the concept of
habitus is pivotal in understanding the differing cultural interpretations on parental choices.
Nevertheless, Bourdieu does not explicitly distinguish factors as ethnicity, gender and religion as concepts closely related to the concept of habitus. Based on the findings of Nanhoe’s (2012) study on educational success of non-western migrant academics in The Netherlands, it is made assumable that the ways how people think, observe and do, are to a certain extent indeed influenced by the concept of habitus. However, according to Nanhoe, Bourdieu forgets the norms and values that exist within the (ethnic) culture of individuals. She therefore states that the traditional; ethnic; religious and gendered habitus cannot be seen apart from the histories of most families either.
In order to observe cultural differences between families and their behavior in relation to the choices that families make with regard to the upbringing of children, or in this particular case, young children’s participation in adventure playgrounds, it remains necessary to take the differing familial expectations on norms and values regarding issues on social interaction; autonomy; learning capacity; gender, religion and (ethnic) family traditions into account. As such, these issues will form a main logic with regard to the differences that exist between families from different cultural backgrounds.
22
3. Methodological framework
In this chapter I will discuss the main choices that were made with regard to the methodology in this research. Furthermore, I will explain the choices with regard to the research design, the strategy and the used methods. Following those parts, I will explain the choices made with regard to the data collection concerning the population and the research setting. Here, I will also give a descriptive overview of the collected data during the fieldwork period.
This chapter will eventually end with a part on the ethical considerations with regard to this research. But first, I will start off by giving a more thorough explanation of the conceptual framework of this research together with the presentation of the sub-questions that were asked in order to give an answer on the main research question, followed by a more thorough operationalization of the used concepts in the conceptual framework.
3.1 Conceptual framework and sub-questions
In the chapter on the theoretical framework, various existing theories about the general parental discourse on a good childhood have shown that the upbringing of children is filled with a multitude of negative, avoidable factors and positive, stimulating factors. With regard to free adventurous outdoor ideas concerning childhood, parents seem to be somewhat reluctant in their stances. Yet, this does not say that they are not aware of the benefits that exist. It is furthermore assumable, that while young children seem to largely enjoy any kind of adventurous activities in the outdoors, it are still the parents that have the final say about their children’s activities. It is therefore, that the general thoughts and favors of parents with regard to childhood success of their children, given shape through the contemporary parental discourse, has a direct effect on the participation of these young children in adventure playgrounds.
Whilst the theory broadly suggests that parents share a common perspective towards what the upbringing of children has to encompass, socio-economic constraints seem to moderate how parents think about the upbringing of their children. It is therefore argued that young children’s participation in adventure playgrounds could be directly influenced by constraints related to the socio-economic situations that they live in. Yet, attention is given to the fact that in the socio-democratic Dutch society, income levels are much more aligned than in the North-American neoliberal (Lareau, 2003) and liberal (Holloway & Pimlott-Wilson, 2014) contexts that were mentioned in the main theory. It might therefore be that socio-economic constraints are of less importance as hampering measures in the adventure playground participation of young children in this particular context. Nevertheless, it remains essential to study this relation either.
23 Regardless of class however, parents seem to make different choices based on what they see as profitable during the upbringing of their children. Although enrichment is seen as a greater good, the ideas may differ due to different cultural logics that exist between the families. Theories show that the behavior of parents and their children is altered by the norms and values that they have. It is therefore, that the concept of cultural understanding based on ethnic and cultural background is assumed to have a moderating effect on the parental discourse concerning the childhood of children and a direct effect on the participation of young children in adventure playgrounds.
Since this research is carried out in two adventure playgrounds, it is assumable to state that their might be several contextual factors that could have an influence on how children are playing adventure as well. It is therefore, that due to their wider structure, these contextual factors at the selected playgrounds themselves might have a direct influence on the participation of young children either. The motivation behind choosing both locations, which are the ‘Jeugdland’ and ‘Het Woeste Westen’ playgrounds, located in Amsterdam, will be discussed more thoroughly in the paragraph about the research setting and population.
This research keeps the socio-economic and cultural differences between families in mind. Therefore, a division will be made between native Dutch families and non-western migrant families in order to say something meaningful about the existing parental discourses; their socio-economic situations in terms of constraints hampering the participation of their children in adventure playgrounds and their cultural stances in relation to the participation of their children in adventure playgrounds. In order to give an answer on the central question in this research, which was formulated in the introduction, the following set of five sub-questions has been formulated:
- SQ 1: How is adventurous playing structured and organized at both studied adventure playgrounds?
- SQ 2: How do urban parents define their children’s childhood and what differences do we see between the families?
- SQ 3: How do urban parents implement adventurous playing in childhood and what differences do we see between the families?
24 - SQ 4: How do young urban children play adventurous and what differences do we see
between the children?
- SQ 5: How do young urban children perceive adventurous play and what differences do we see between the children?
Each of the sub-questions that has been asked in this research will be answered in separate chronological chapters in an attempt to give an answer on the central research question. In the following part, I will discuss these sub-questions briefly.
Sub-question one aims to give a descriptive overview of the two adventure playgrounds that were visited during the fieldwork period. Since this study aims to get a broader grasp on adventurous playing in urban settings as well, it is therefore necessary to elaborate more thoroughly on the chosen cases. Here, further elaboration is given to the natural and built environment of the playgrounds; the wider structure in terms of the organization and the social function; and the types of activities and play equipment that are provided.
The second sub-question seems to speak for itself as it aims to give an answer how the parents shape their children’s childhood with regard to their stances on childhood in general and the general structure of their children’s activities. It is therefore, that in answering this sub-question, the discourse-related issues will be discussed. Furthermore, this question aims to get more understanding on the differences between families based on their socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. Since the theory suggests that culture (Holloway & Pimlott-Wilson, 2014) and (to a lesser extent) class (Lareau, 2003) influence the thoughts on childhood in broad ways, it is assumable to state that the interviewed parents might show differences in their stances about child rearing approaches.
A somewhat similar approach is used with regard to sub-question three. However, while the previous question mainly discussed the general upbringing of children, this sub-question aims to give an answer on how adventurous playing fits within broader thoughts concerning childhood. Here, it is also assumable to state that there might exist several differences between the families based on their varying socio-economic and cultural backgrounds.
Sub-question four aims to give a descriptive overview of how children play adventurous at the selected playgrounds. Here, attention is given to the different activity types that exist and the extent of organization during the activities. It is furthermore assumable that there are some
25 differences noticeable between children from various cultural backgrounds with regard to how they play. Therefore, this sub-question also aims to see what differences exist between playing children.
The final sub-question aims to get a grasp on the perceptions that children have with regard to adventurous playing. Here, attention is given to thoughts and experiences with regard to the various elements related to adventurous play. It is assumable to think that children from various cultural backgrounds have other perceptions. Therefore, this particular question was asked either.
All the concepts that were described in the theoretical framework; the main research question and the sub-questions as described above together, have subsequently led to the following conceptual framework as presented in figure 3.1.
Figure 3.1: Conceptual framework
3.2 Operationalization
In this part, the concepts that were used in the conceptual scheme are made more palpable. As such, I will give further notion of how the main concepts are used with regard to this research.
- Dutch and non-western migrant families
In this research, Dutch families are categorized as families where at least one parent is of Dutch descent. Non-western families are categorized in accordance with the definition of Statistics Netherlands (CBS). Here, non-western migrants are seen as foreigners with an ethnic
Socio-economic situation of non-western migrant
and Dutch families
Contemporary parental discourses on good
childhood
Cultural background of non-western migrant and
Dutch families
Participation in adventure playgrounds
Woeste Westen (Loc. 2) Jeugdland (Loc. 1)
26 background from Africa, Latin-America, Asia or Turkey (CBS, 2016). Essential to understand, is that these families need to be inhabitants of the city of Amsterdam.
- Socio-economic situations
Here, the issue of socio-economic constraints will be used in order to explain why children can or cannot partake in adventure playgrounds. Special attention is made for issues regarding the availability of certain resources that are useful during childhood. It is assumedly logical to state that these resources often comprise available time and money. Therefore, the concept will be conceptualized through the following indicators: time-related and money-related constraints.
- Cultural background of families
Cultural explanations are pivotal in understanding the different choices that parents make. Since this research involves native Dutch and non-western migrant families, it is necessary to take notion of differing traditions and values in the upbringing of children. As such, the concept of cultural background is operationalized by focusing on the differing norms and values that exist between native Dutch and non-western migrant families with regard to a wide range of several topics. These topics will eventually act out as the main indicators of this particular concept. Therefore, attention is given to the stances with regard to social interaction; autonomy; learning capacity; gender; religion and (ethnic) family traditions.
- Contemporary parental discourses on good childhood
The literature suggests that parents have several avoidable fears and stimulating favors with regard to future success of their children. Furthermore, they seem to have thoughts about how their children’s activities should be structured. In this research, the concept concerning the contemporary parental discourse on good childhood will therefore be defined through these particular avoidable fears and stimulating favors and the thoughts about the activity styles that exist, as presented in paragraph 2.2 of chapter two.
- Young children’s participation in adventure playgrounds
Measuring participation is bound to several implications, since the concept seems to be a bit vague. In this research however, I have chosen to measure participation based on the questions how much; how; when; why; how long; and with whom children participate in the adventure playgrounds. It is important to know that these questions can be translated to several indicators that make the concept of participation more palpable, and consequently more suitable
27 to measure. Therefore, table 3.1 is designed in order to give an overview of the indicators and the sub-indicators that belong to this set of asked questions. Furthermore, young children are conceptualized as children within the age-group between five and twelve years old.
Table 3.1: Operationalization of the concept ‘participation in adventure playgrounds’
Questions Indicators Sub-indicators
How much? Frequency -
How? Activity type Type of play
Type of visit
When? Time of visit Times of day
Days of the week
Why? Reasons for visit Parental discourse-related reasons Children’s reasons
Socio-economic reasons Cultural reasons
How long? Duration of visit -
With whom? Accompaniment during visit Type of accompaniment
3.3 Research design; strategy and used methods
This research is a descriptive case study, which tries to explain the differences that exist between Amsterdam families on the theme of adventure playground participation of their children, by looking at the socio-economic and cultural differences that exist. Since the main aim is to get a better grasp on the social world of urban parents and their children, an interpretivist epistemological approach is maintained. Therefore, I have made use of a qualitative research strategy, in which exploring and participatory observation techniques; semi-structured and unstructured interviews and key informant interviews were used.
As this research aimed to gain further understanding on the thoughts on adventurous playing and the participation of young children in adventure playground incentives, structured interviews with parents of young children were pivotal. Furthermore, a semi-structured interviewing approach was chosen, due to the fact that it enables researchers to gain more detailed information out of questionings (Bryman, 2008). Hence, questioning was crucial in gaining data about the child rearing choices made by parents; the stances towards the upbringing of their children and their stances towards adventurous playing. Therefore, these interviews with parents were mainly used to give an answer on the second and third sub-question.
In a previous study, Cele (2006) has shown that to gain more knowledge about young children’s play and their stances towards a type of play, it is necessary to make use of an approach related to observational analyses. Therefore, I observed children in twofold ways: as a non-participating and a participating observer. As a non-participating observer, I mainly observed how children undertook adventurous activities. The participating observations
28 however, went a step further. While Cele managed to collect data through ‘walking interviews’, I found it more useful to be directly involved with the children during their playful activities. It is therefore that a more direct approach is chosen in order to collect data, which is in line with Howell (1972). After a stage of reconnaissance, I managed to use my gathered trust to actively participate in the adventurous playing activities of the children, in order to get a better grasp at their experiences about adventurous playing and the potential hampering effects. Therefore, I applied unstructured interviewing techniques during these participant observations as well.
Participant observation is a kind of research in which a researcher immerses himself in a social setting for a certain period to observe behavior through direct involvement with the observed other (Bryman, 2008). Thus, by blending in the playful situation of these young children, a researcher may therefore get further information on how these children are actually experiencing adventurous playing and what their thoughts about this type of play are. Both methods of observations were used in order to answer the fourth and fifth sub-question in a more thoughtful manner.
In order to gain an answer on sub-question one, it was essential to make use of an approach where observational reconnaissance; written field notes and key informant interviews formed the core. By maintaining an explorative approach to determine the contextual characteristics of the playground locations, in combination with the interviewing of key stakeholders, it became possible to create an ‘ethnography of place’ (Bryman, 2008). This eventually gave more insight on how adventurous playing is given shape in both playground locations. Therefore, elements of these wide observational approach are used for answering sub-question four as well.
3.4 Setting and population
As already stated, this research has taken place in Amsterdam. Since this research aims to gain further knowledge on the differences that exist between families from different socio-economic classes and cultural backgrounds, a choice has been made for two adventure playground locations bordering neighborhoods that have faced rapid urbanization and were affected by family-related gentrification trends in the past one and a half decade. Furthermore, these adventure playgrounds needed to be located in child-rich environments in which native Dutch and non-western migrant children are somewhat evenly distributed across the various neighborhoods.
In this research, the following adventure playground locations were chosen: Het Woeste Westen in the Westerpark area and Jeugdland in the Flevopark area. These locations are
29 surrounded by neighborhoods that have actually faced gentrification processes over the last couple of decades and furthermore, they lie in city districts that are particularly characterized by the presence of a wide range of child-rich families from different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. An illustrative figure on the respective locations of the playgrounds is given in figure 3.2. Further elaboration on the selected cases will be given in the next chapter.
Figure 3.2: Locations of the selected playgrounds
(Source: Regiomonitor. Author: G. Barbato, 2016)
In terms of research population, it has become clear that this research focuses on families with children of elementary school age. Dutch and non-western migrant parents with adventurous playing children below the age of five and above the age of twelve were therefore not taken into consideration during this research. Furthermore this research focused on adventurous playing children in the chosen adventure playground locations as well. Therefore, the research population also involved adventurous playing children between five and twelve years old.
