The City and Children's Participation

Alejandro Acosta Ayerbe
Nisme Pineda Báez
Centro Internacional de Educación y Desarrollo Humano, CINDE – Bogotá.
Universidad de Manizales - Colombia

Citation: Acosta Ayerbe, Alejandro and Nisme Pineda Báez (2007). "The City and Children's Participation." Children, Youth and Environments 17 (2): 187-198. Retrieved [date] from http://www.colorado.edu/journals/cye/

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Abstract

This article is based on reflections by the authors about theoretical proposals concerning the role of the city as a context for the development and exercise of citizenship. It presents the results of the systematization of a program on citizenship training for children with emphasis on early childhood in Bogotá, Colombia. 

The article addresses two key issues: working with early childhood from a perspective of citizenship building and acknowledging participation in the development of children. This identifies the need to promote a progressive appropriation of children’s proximate settings to help them gain an understanding of the city as a context for their own development, as well as that of their peers and families. 

Keywords: child participation, child development, citizenship, democracy, Bogotá, Colombia