L. Karsten

It all used to be better? Different generations on continuity and change in urban children's daily use of space

Abstract There is much speculation about childrens changing space–time behaviour, yet little is actually known about it. The study reported on here, which was based on oral histories, statistical and archive research, and observations in Amsterdam, compared childrens use of space during the 1950s and early 1960s with that of today. The public space of the street used to be a child space, but in two of the three streets studied it has been transformed into an adult space. Conversely, private home space—traditionally the domain of adults—has become a child space. Over time, childrens geographies have become more diverse. In addition to the traditional childhood of outdoor children, we distinguish indoor children and children of the backseat generation. These two new types are characterized by a decrease in playing outdoors and an increase in adult supervision. Although this may be regarded as a loss, new childrens activities have emerged, outdoors as well as indoors. Contemporary cities can be exciting places for children, but it is clear that inequality by class has become more manifest. Both new geographical childhoods have resulted in a decrease in childrens agency, which may have a negative impact on segregation patterns.

Housing as a Way of Life: Towards an Understanding of Middle-Class Families' Preference for an Urban Residential Location

Housing studies show an overwhelming preference by middle-class families for suburban living locations. In this paper an atypical category, middle-class families living in the city, is addressed. The aim is to understand why these households disconnect the seemingly natural relationship between families and the suburbs. Empirical evidence comes from interviews with families living in two Rotterdam neighbourhoods. Three interrelated sets of explanations were found. First, families express clearly the time-geographical reasons for urban living. In particular, the location of work provides a strong incentive to seek housing in the same city. Second, social embeddedness is a strong reason for staying. Understanding housing preferences requires the conceptualization of families as social networks. Third, these families define themselves as true urbanites and sturdy families who reject the suburbs as a suitable place in which to live. The results are discussed in the context of urban policies to retain the middle classes in the city.

CHILDREN'S USE OF PUBLIC SPACE The gendered world of the playground

This article considers the gendered character of the contemporary playground. Based on observational studies in eight Amsterdam playgrounds and interviews with users, it is shown how playground participation, activities and micro-geographies are structured by gender. Furthermore, not only does the playground function as a gendered space, its physical and symbolic landscapes also reinforce this binary divide. In addition, the contested character of this divide is illustrated with examples of girls and boys challenging traditional gender behaviour. In its gendered access, the playground is comparable with other public spaces: in contrast, however, it has not yet been the focus of feminist critique. This article points out the wider significance of creating emancipatory public play environments.

Gentrifiers Settling Down? Patterns and Trends of Residential Location of Middle-Class Families in Amsterdam

Based on data for Amsterdam, the Netherlands, this paper presents new evidence of a strong increase in the number of middle-class families in the city. By presenting the spatial patterns and trends of middle-class families in selected Amsterdam neighbourhoods, the paper shows that central neighbourhoods in particular attract middle-class families. In addition, new-build areas, both central and peripheral, offer a residential environment for middle-class families as a compromise between inner city and suburb. This paper links these patterns and trends with gentrification literature. Middle-class family neighbourhoods are classified in a typology that perceives neighbourhoods as fields that are accessed by means of capital, and operate as a stage for the accumulation of various forms of capital, which are associated with various habituses of the middle class.

Mapping childhood in Amsterdam. The spatial and social construction of children's domains in the city

This paper examines the spatial transformation of the city from children’s point of view. Three important daily living domains – children’s outdoor play spaces, leisure centres and caring institutions – are examined. Empirical findings are made from studies in Amsterdam, where new urban developments affecting children are most apparent in the Netherlands. Conclusions show that developments are both diverse and paradoxical. On the one hand, we see processes that progressively contribute towards the exclusion of children from urban public space. Safety considerations underpin these processes heavily. Children’s marginal position in the public domain is further reinforced in the planning and design of new residential areas. Children do not seem to be a factor that merits consideration. On the other hand, never before has so much attention been paid to children. Adults’ efforts to give due consideration to children’s position lead to the creation of many new domains especially created for children. These give children a ‘face’ in the city, but these spaces are characterised by privatisation, institutionalisation and segregation. In the context of the Netherlands it is not altogether clear what shape the future will take, but it seems to be most likely that indicated developments will continue.

The commuter family as a geographical adaptive strategy for the work-family balance

In this paper we raise the question of how commuter families create a work–family balance in a situation of incongruity of the geographical scales of work and family. Commuter families combine the work location of a commuting parent on the (inter)national scale, with the home-based parents work location and the family home on the local scale. The commuting parent experiences a compartmentalized workweek, while the home-based parent is a single parent on those days. The results indicate two types of work–family balance. In the traditionalizing type, the father concentrates full time on paid work and the mother is the family caregiver both when the father is at work and at home. In the egalitarian type, both parents participate in paid work for at least four days a week. Family care in these egalitarian families is coordinated by the home-based parent (female or male) and shared by both parents during the weekends. The work–family balance of a commuter family involves some sacrifice, but also substantial enrichment. The empirical evidence is derived from a small-scale data set of 30 in-depth interviews with both parents in 15 commuter families in the Netherlands.

‘Time-out’ with the family: the shaping of family leisure in the new urban consumption spaces of cafes, bars and restaurants

In many north-western European countries, the family practices of drinking and eating used to be largely located in the private domain of the home. This situation has recently begun to change, particularly in gentrified urban areas where middle-class families are growing in number and family outings in bars and restaurants are becoming more widespread. This paper examines the new practices of family consumption from two perspectives: the providers and the consumers. Entrepreneurs shape family-friendly spaces by reducing boundaries between eating, drinking and playing and by offering out-of-home pleasures in home-like environments for both parents and children. They balance between accommodating the families and retaining their childless clients. Families that consume in the food and drink spaces are primarily local middle-class families, and fathers and mothers equally participate. This study further reveals that leisure time spent with the family cannot always be classified as leisure time as a family. Parental involvement with the children differs. We distinguish leisured caring time with high parental involvement, own leisure time mainly directed at parents’ personal activities and social leisure time mainly directed at maintaining social relationships beyond the family. We discuss earlier research on the complicated character of family leisure related to the caring duties of parents. Empirical evidence comes from an exploratory study of ten consumption spaces in the inner city of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Women's leisure: divergence, reconceptualization and change — the case of the Netherlands

This paper consists of two sections. In the first, theoretical, section I explore the questions of divergence and reconceptualization of womens leisure with notions derived from Giddenss structuration theory. In the second section these theoretical notions are used to structure empirical findings from the Netherlands. This results in three different types of womens leisure. The traditional family type has a long history, while the modern family type and the individualistic type are rather new. Each type can be characterised by a specific division of leisure into own time, leisured caring time and leisured labour time and by a specific time-space behaviour. Both the modern family type and the individualistic type are strongly related to womens growing participation in the labour market, which for the former type goes hand-in-hand with an unequal gender division of work. The expectation is that, rather than the individualistic type, the modern family type will become most widespread in the Netherlands a...

Balancing paid work, care and leisure in post-separation households: A comparison of single parents with co-parents

This article provides insight into the daily lives of separated parents involved in two types of living arrangements: single parents (mainly mothers) living with their children full-time and co-parents living with their children part-time. Earlier studies have stated that the everyday lives of separated mothers are more constrained than those of married mothers. We show that the growing diversity of post-separation living arrangements should no longer be ignored in studies of the consequences of separation, in policy frameworks or in debates on separation. Our findings reveal that single mothers experience more constraints in combining work, care and leisure in daily life than co-parents do. The differences between the groups are explained by different commitments in the work and care domains. These differences are not solely matters of choice. Single mothers who are less highly educated and work fewer hours than co-parents have limited resources with which to arrange or negotiate a more gender-equal outcome. Empirical evidence is drawn from individual in-depth interviews with 18 separated parents living in The Netherlands.

Parents and children consuming the city: geographies of family outings across class

Cities are generally described as urban jungles for everyday family life. This is mainly based on poor facilities for outdoor play. But childrens everyday life consists of many more leisure activities. In this paper, we focus on family outings: the various ways children and parents consume the city. It is argued that family outings are important building blocks for growing up and cementing family ties. They can be grouped under the umbrella of consuming the city and as such their growth fits perfectly into the new position of cities as consumption landscapes. Empirical data are drawn from a case study in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, the Netherlands, among families of different classes with young children (N = 42) living in inner city districts. The main conclusion of this study is that social risers and upper-middle classes enjoy the city for family outings much more than the lower class families, even when they live in the same neighbourhoods (as is the case in this study) and even when we focus on free to enter public spaces. The discussion part of this paper reflects on the issue of the urban jungle as opposed to the rural idyll for growing up and family life.