Play is my happy childhood memory: Through the lens of a child.
It’s all fun & games as a child! A good neighborhood through the lenses of a child is one that has fun places to play, learn and socialize unlike adults whose interests could be work, proximity to that workplace and where the rent is cheaper.
Growing up in the early 2000’s in this neighborhood, let’s call it *Star* because it has all the characteristics of both urban and rural, also it is a sample representation of how urbanization has changed the landscape in Kenyan urban areas.
When we moved here, our house was the first one to be located on the end of this particular zone, my parents had envisioned somewhere quieter, not so far from the town center and aspired to do farming: my dad loved trees and fruits and thus wanted space to actualize his vision.
The first year of relocation was a transition for me and my siblings, we had lots of friends to play with in our former neighborhood but this particular zone had solitude to offer.
Luckily, in the second year, the building directly opposite our home was completed, it was/is a rental unit- tenants with children inhabited the building. I was elated because I was super playful and always yearned to play ‘kalongolongo’ -the homemaker role playing game, a replica of ‘the sims’ in reality.
The once quieter neighborhood my parents envisioned was now noisy, children singing, dancing, running and playing everywhere, it was a good kind of chaos. We would play on the empty lots which were many at the time. By 2006, I joined a boarding school and wasn’t keen on the changes afterwards.
My play time was limited due to loads of homework before school resumed, also, the old friends I would have played with had relocated to other towns. Anyways, I retreated to the flashy computer games that would steal our time to even notice that we were missing out on being outdoors.
Fast forward to mid-2010s, our neighborhood was heavily inhabited, new homes, new rentals for both residential and businesses, the spaces we would play on earlier were no longer available. Needless to say, as much as that sounds urban, land was sold by the city council for residential units and it did fulfil the purpose-purely housing and a small mix of business premises.
So where do children play? Just outside their residential lots, the space is limited and the common game is singing, you will never see them playing football or the famous ‘kalongolongo’ where previously we would build houses with sacks and small rocks, because, where is the space?
Explore more planning posts here.