Thailand

The Walking Neighbourhood presented at the Arts and Cultural Centre in Chiang Mai, Thailand in April 2013.

Welcome to The Walking Neighbourhood – Chiang Mai. We presented 7 walks imagined, planned, practiced and hosted by children aged 7-12 years. The group has worked collaboratively with a team of artists from Australia and Chiang Mai. They have developed their walks around the old city of Chiang Mai, an urban neighbourhood where family homes, industry and tourism meet. It is a place for adults and adult activity. The presence of children is rare. Where are all the children?

The Walking Neighbourhood is about many things, it is about proving that there are ways for children to feel safe while being out in public, walking, meeting shop owners, pedestrians and developing a sense of themselves. This project is also about providing a way for families and whole communities to support our city’s children to become citizens, to use their full agency to access the most basic human right – to be involved in decisions that impact on their lives.

Come and see our neighbourhood through the eyes of our children.

Why develop child friendly communities?

Children are vulnerable to environmental stress and their physical, emotional and mental needs should be a part of neighbourhood planning. Creating child friendly environments generates broad economic, social and cultural benefits. It is an action and a policy end that serves the general community and is a long-term investment in the life of that community.

Characteristics of a Child Friendly City identified by UNICEF

• Children should have good access to basic services
• Policies, resource allocation & governance to be in the best interests of children
• Safe environments & conditions that nurture the development of children
• A sustainable future – equitable social and economic conditions & protection from the effects of environmental hazards
• Children have the right to participate in decision making that affects their lives
• Special attention should be given to disadvantaged children
• Non-discrimination (gender, ethnicity, economic and social)

About Chiang Mai

Chiang Mia is the capital of Chiang Mai Province, a former capital of the Kingdom of Lanna (1296–1768) and was the tributary Kingdom of Chiang Mai from 1774 until 1939. In recent years, Chiang Mai has become an increasingly modern city and has been attracting over 5 million visitors each year. Chiang Mai is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand

Walk around the block

The local block that a child lives on is their first real contact with the world outside their home. How that block functions will determine a young person’s interaction with neighbours and with the community that they live in. A block is a piece of your neighbourhood and the very smallest part of your community.

As a resident of your community, are you responsible for what happens to the land around you? What about your neighbourhood? How far does your sense of responsibility go?

Is there everything I need in this neighbourhood? What is missing? What should not be here? What should stay here?

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