Navigating the neighbourhood: gender, place and agency in children’s mobility

Abstract

Children have an intrinsic right to urban space. Yet children’s perspectives and agency are largely absent from research and public policy on issues that concern them. Common conceptualisations of children as vulnerable, incompetent, or unruly designate their marginalised status in the city. When gender is added, the deficit approach is reinforced. In this paper, we draw from theoretical and methodological approaches that affirm children’s agency and focus analytical attention on how gendered spatialities are performed. Using cognitive mapping and semi-structured interviews with children aged eleven and twelve in Melbourne, Australia, the study explored the ways in which children’s relationships with their neighbourhoods reflect, reproduce and resist gendered spatialities. We demonstrate that children are skilled ‘spatial agents’, actively producing spatialities with awareness and intention, and clear gendered embodiment. Our analysis indicates the importance of engaging children in urban design and considering intersections of gender, age and power in contemporary cities.