If you go to Children on the Move! today at http://ecoplan.org/children, you
will note under The Backdrop a new section entitled, Leading Arguments.
The first two background pieces entered there are briefly introduced below.

We would like not only to draw them to your attention, but also to invite
you to share with us all equally brilliant and focused papers that can help
us develop a common understanding of the issues, challenges and
possibilities.


Eric Britton

ecopl@n ___ technology, economy, society ___
Le Frene, 8/10 rue Joseph Bara, 75006 Paris, France
Eric.Britton@... URL www.ecoplan.org
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Curbing children's social and emotional development: an unrecognised outcome
of parental fears

By. Meyer Hillman
Summary:
This paper is aimed at putting on the political agenda an aspect of
children's maturation into coping adults which to date has been largely
overlooked. It is necessarily written in a more discursive manner than is
generally considered appropriate for academic papers owing to the scarcity
of research evidence on its subject. The paper proposes a radical
reappraisal of policies and practices affecting the quality of life of
children, directly or indirectly, particularly in the transport domains. It
concludes with the outline of a strategy intended to return to children the
opportunities for their development outside the home, which have been
overlooked but are possibly significant, and ones that previous generations
of children enjoyed.

Reclaiming The Residential Street As Play Space

By Paul J. Tranter and John W. Doyle

Summary:
This paper explains how the residential street has progressively lost its
function as a play space. In many cities, spontaneous informal child play on
streets has been largely replaced by car-dependent, adult supervised games
which are more formally organised and distant from the local neighbourhood.
There is an assumption by many parents, politicians and planners that a
large number of parks, playgrounds and large back yards will satisfy
children's recreation needs, and there will be no requirement for children
to use streets as play areas. This paper argues a case that streets need to
be reclaimed as play space. Research incorporating children's views reveals
that they place a high value on streets as play space. Allowing children to
play in the local streets has benefits not only for the children, but also
for parents involved in their transport, for adults of the neighbourhood
concerned with building a sense of community involvement, and for the
community at large in terms of lowering traffic congestion and related
problems. Strategies that may assist the process of reclaiming residential
streets as play space for children are discussed.