Case Studies
Family
Our families’ networks shape ours, and vice versa, and our local communities are where we can connect to our elders.
In the Beyond School Gates research as a whole, family attitudes and networks proved crucial to children’s ability and desire to mix with other children across lines of difference. Family connections shape how children interact with and use their local community, and model for them how to take ownership of public spaces and seek safety. 28% of the maps produced for Journeys reference some sort of intergenerational connection, and these are often the relationships through which children can relate to their local communities.
The following case studies show how sites of shared cultural belonging allow children to shape their communities and integrate with others…
Case study 1 (CU05): Cal
Cal loves telling jokes and spending time with his family. His map shows his school at one and his house at the other, with the street between the two flanked by terraced houses. He walks to school with his mum and his younger sister, and really values this quality time with his family. His mum is very busy working at the fish and chip shop that his family run, and so this walk to school is the main time for him to connect to her. They chat about their days and tell each other jokes. His walk to school is more than just a practicality, but an important way in which the walkability of his town allows him to connect to his family. Along this street, Cal has also marked out recent key milestones that have taken place in the new house he has recently moved to. These milestones include:
“5 week – our first new year’, ‘3 month – mother day’, and ‘3 month and 5 day – my cousin mom have a baby come to the world.”
This mapping is an important instance of Cal taking ownership of the street where he lives by literally mapping his life onto it, and also shows how integral family is to this sense of ownership. He describes his first lunar new year as the first time that his Chinese family had space to host people in their house, and the joy of having family to celebrate with. These milestones are mostly family oriented, and his family’s chip shop is well-known by his classmates as an important local fixture. Cal’s belonging in his local community and his ability to integrate and take ownership of it is shaped by his family and their place in it.