The City and Children’s Participation

Abstract

*Focus on Latin America | Reports from the Field

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.