Learning from cities: a cautionary note about urban/childhood/nature entanglements

Abstract

This article examines the urban and pedagogical imaginations that underpin the Editors’ call for papers in this special issue of EER. It raises two concerns. The first is that the view of the ‘urban’ that underpins work in this field, whilst offering some new insights, tends to overlook the powerful forces and structures that produce urban space. The second is that in suggesting a pedagogy that is framed in terms of the ‘planetary scale’ and vitality of ‘life itself’, the processes that shape children’s nature in urban spaces are obscured. The article concludes with a note about how cities are playing their part in the latest round of economic restructuring.

Keywords:

• Children’s geography
• Urbanism
• Nature
• Anthropocene