Who Killed the Children's Play Areas, the colony streets
Who killed the children's play areas, the colony streets?
Recently I saw videos of some accidents that happened in the recent past. Kids walking or playing on residential streets have been killed by vehicles either because they were speeding or kids were in blind spots. My memory went back to 35-40 years past. We could play a variety of games like cricket, football, shuttle, marbles, gilli danda, seven stones, etc on the streets.
But nowadays kids cannot dare to play freely on streets without the worry of being injured by vehicles, especially the 4 wheelers.
How did we reach this stage? Is urbanization a curse?
Almost 30-40 years ago when there were 2 wheelers but no cars, kids were able to play freely. Also since most of the roads were kutcha roads, they could play variety of games that I have listed earlier in the article. Ever since BT or CC roads came into existence, games like marbles could not be played. Playing on streets became more difficult ever since people started buying cars and streets have been occupied by cars. Due to this there is less space on the streets for kids to play. Also ever since people indulged in driving at high speed on residential colony streets also, playing any game became more risky. Now with almost every house having a car, streets are entirely covered with cars. This resulted in the death of natural and the best play areas for the kids.
What are streets for?
The standard defiition of a street “it is a road in a city or town that has buildings that are usually close together along one or both sides” Some people say that street is only for traveling purpose and not for playing. Also that only parks should be used for playing. It might sound logical from a point of view of a developed country but not for a country like India. 80% of the Indian population don’t have access to a park or a ground. Park for playing is a modern concept. Also historically for centuries streets have been play areas for almost entire population.
The impact?
Since access to street as play areas is not available nowadays, physical activity of today’s generations of childrens has reduced. It impacts their well being and health. Children could play very close to their houses and were always in the sight of parents. Parents also did not have to go far off for physical activity of their kids.
Conclusion
Vehicles hijacking streets is unacceptable. Streets belong to everyone and not just vehicles. That is how life has been and was appropriate also. A perfect world. We are creating a dangerous society for future. We need to reclaim residential streets from vehicles and create space for children to play like it was earlier.
Recently I saw videos of some accidents that happened in the recent past. Kids walking or playing on residential streets have been killed by vehicles either because they were speeding or kids were in blind spots. My memory went back to 35-40 years past. We could play a variety of games like cricket, football, shuttle, marbles, gilli danda, seven stones, etc on the streets.
How did we reach this stage? Is urbanization a curse?
Almost 30-40 years ago when there were 2 wheelers but no cars, kids were able to play freely. Also since most of the roads were kutcha roads, they could play variety of games that I have listed earlier in the article. Ever since BT or CC roads came into existence, games like marbles could not be played. Playing on streets became more difficult ever since people started buying cars and streets have been occupied by cars. Due to this there is less space on the streets for kids to play. Also ever since people indulged in driving at high speed on residential colony streets also, playing any game became more risky. Now with almost every house having a car, streets are entirely covered with cars. This resulted in the death of natural and the best play areas for the kids.
What are streets for?
The standard defiition of a street “it is a road in a city or town that has buildings that are usually close together along one or both sides” Some people say that street is only for traveling purpose and not for playing. Also that only parks should be used for playing. It might sound logical from a point of view of a developed country but not for a country like India. 80% of the Indian population don’t have access to a park or a ground. Park for playing is a modern concept. Also historically for centuries streets have been play areas for almost entire population.
The impact?
Since access to street as play areas is not available nowadays, physical activity of today’s generations of childrens has reduced. It impacts their well being and health. Children could play very close to their houses and were always in the sight of parents. Parents also did not have to go far off for physical activity of their kids.
Conclusion
Vehicles hijacking streets is unacceptable. Streets belong to everyone and not just vehicles. That is how life has been and was appropriate also. A perfect world. We are creating a dangerous society for future. We need to reclaim residential streets from vehicles and create space for children to play like it was earlier.
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