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

Abstract

Cities are generally described as urban jungles for everyday family life. This is mainly based on poor facilities for outdoor play. But children's 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.

Keywords:

• family leisure
• cities
• consumption spaces
• urban childhood
• gentrifying neighbourhood

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Monique van Benthem, Charlotte Kemmeren, Corien Remijnse, Hanna Tak and Tim Tensen for their participation in the field work of this research.

Notes on contributor

Lia Karsten is an Associate Professor of Urban Studies at the University of Amsterdam. Her research focus is on children’s and families’ geographies, including leisure and consumption issues. In 2013, she received an honorary doctorate from Uppsala University, Sweden. www.uva.nl/profile/c.j.m.karsten

Naomi Felder is an Architect fascinated by cities, it’s streets and it’s inhabitants. After working for a decade for renowned architectural firms, she started her own office, bureau Feld, specialized in research and design at all scales. www.bureaufeld.nl

Karsten and Feld work together on a research and design project called families in cities. www.gezinindestad.nl

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by Stimuleringsfonds voor de Aarchtitectuur, the Netherlands [Q11/021.RPS].