Cases

Space for tweens – a campaign from Jantje Beton

Interview with Froukje Hajer, the research director of Jantje Beton, Holland

In the Netherlands, Jantje Beton, a well-known NGO that advocates children’s rights, has initiated a poster campaign that emphasises the lack of playful outdoor leisure sites for teenagers. Froukje Hajer, the research director of Jantje Beton, explains:

“At Jantje Beton we advocate children’s right to play and their right to influence decisions that are relevant to them. These years we see that the tweens, the 12-14 -year-olds, are forgotten in city planning. The focus is mainly on the young children and the “problematic” older teenagers. So the 12-14-year-olds have far too few places in the public sphere. The bigger children’s more rough areas they are not seeking, they are not for them, and neither are the younger children’s very childish areas. The 12-14-year-olds want spaces with playful equipment that is not too childish!”

With a poster campaign and a brochure coming out in early 2008 Jantje Beton wants to emphasize the spatial needs for the young people so that city
planners remember them and remember to facilitate playful, yet not childish, activity. Says Froukje Hajer:

”We need to remember that this age group is often in a limbo at home as well: Parents demand from the 12-14-year-olds that they take more responsibility. But parents sometimes forget to let go: The young people are often not allowed out. This is why we recommend pedagogical attention to their public spaces: Youth
workers should be present in the public – not organizing play or arranging games but simply be at the young people’s disposal, talking to them and offering an alternative to the often commercialised offerings this age group has for their leisure time. The youth workers could give structure to the third dimension in the lives of 12-14-year-olds, apart from school and family: their leisure time.”