Experience the city from a child’s perspective
Arup and The Bernard van Leer Foundation (BvLF) have partnered and developed a virtual reality experience that allows users to ‘virtually’ halve in size and become 95cm tall, the height of a 3-year-old. They have created a world where users can experience how a child perceives and interacts with its surrounding.Â
Delegates attending the Child in the City International Seminar in Antwerp next week will get to get the opportunity to view the urban environment from the perspective of a 3-year-old. This will take place during the refreshment breaks and during the cocktail hour.
Arup and BvLF believe that the use of virtual reality “can raise awareness of some of the common challenges currently faced by young children in cities around the world, and trigger decision-makers and thought leaders into thinking from the perspective of a 3-year-old”.
Poster Exhibition
In addition to the Urban 95 VR reality experience, there will also be a poster exhibition on both days. The poster exhibition allows childrenâs professionals, university lecturers, researchers and city planners from all over the world to share their knowledge and research on child-friendly cities.
The poster presenters will be travelling from China, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Brazil, the United States and within Belgium. Some of the poster presenters are; Wenxiu Gao, Dr Sharon Wright and Juliana Marques Awad.
Wenxiu Gao has been working at School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Shenzhen University, China
since 2013. Â Her research area focuses on public spaces and public life in urban areas and she also teaches Human Geography, Application of GIS in Urban Planning, and Social Investigation.
Dr Sharon Wright is a senior associate of the Learning Crowd and has over 20 yearsâ experience in leading strategy and policy development, implementation and evaluation. Specialising in education and urban regeneration, Sharon is passionate about creating a strong relationship between public services and their users.
Juliana Marques Awad is an architect and city planner, with a PhD from the University of SĂŁo Paulo. She is the co-author of the book âSustainable Cities, Smart Citiesâ, published in 2012, and âPlanned Communitiesâ published in 2015, as well as various articles on the theme of cities. In 2018 she founded the âCidadeirasâ in partnership with Fatima Totti, a psychologist and teacher of childrenâs education, with the intention of strengthening relations between children and cities through Education.
The Child in the City International Seminar on âChildren in the sustainable cityâ takes place in Antwerp 20-21 May 2019. Register today as seats are limited. Click here to register.
