1st Edition
Children and the Geography of Violence Why Space and Place Matter
Violence sabotages development, both children’s development and the development of the communities and neighbourhoods they rely on. There is abundant evidence of the deep and lasting harm that can be done. Violence breaks bodies and minds and exerts an insidious influence at every level. The effects are immediate but can also linger, damaging health, trust and capability, traveling through generations. This book argues that it is impossible to understand the violence in young children’s lives or to respond to it adequately without considering how embedded it is within their physical surroundings. The relations of power that are the context for violence within households, within communities and beyond are often expressed through control over space and the material conditions of life.
This book links the abstract concept of structural violence to the stark reality of personal harm, drawing on evidence from a range of disciplines and from countries throughout the global South. It explores the dynamics of cramped, insecure housing, poor water and sanitation, neglected neighbourhoods, forced evictions, cities that segregate the rich and the poor, landscapes of conflict and disaster, and discusses their implications for young children. An alternative approach to child protection is proposed, anchored in the actions of organized communities negotiating to challenge inequities, mend their environments and achieve security. There is a fundamental synergy between building community and protecting children. These are not separate agendas. A place that works for children works better for everyone else as well.
This book will be essential reading for all those interested in young children in a global context, whether as child protection professionals, or those with a more general interest in children’s rights issues or in cross cultural approaches to child development. It will also be of great interest to students and researchers of development studies, conflict studies, family studies, child development, public health and urban planning.
Chapter one: Charting the territory
Chapter two: Background
The prevalence of violence against children
Violence and structural violence
The role of stress
The impact of violence for children
How the physical environment contributes to risk and protection
Chapter three: Home
The experience of violence at home
The physical ecology of abuse and neglect
Neglect and material conditions
Housing quality and abuse
Spatial organization
Housing security
The contribution of neighbourhood conditions
Residential care
Chapter four: Neighbourhood
Tensions over shared space
Service provision, amenities and disamenities
Hot spots, environmental design, and a note of caution
Spatial segregation and the "architecture of fear"
Power, insecurity and fragile cities
The impact of violent neighbourhoods for children’s opportunities
The attraction of violence
Violence at school
Violence at work
Chapter five: Losing home and neighbourhood
Migration and trafficking
Children on the street
Evictions
Refugees and IDPs
Everyday violence and distress
Chapter six: Expanding the child protection paradigm
Formal child protection systems and their reach
The effectiveness of the formal systems
Bottom up approaches to child protection
Expanding the focus
Chapter seven: Responses that start from the physical environment
Housing security
Housing that works for families
Neighbourhood space and amenities
Responding to violence in school and on the way to school
Crime prevention through environmental design and supportive policing
Reintegrating and reclaiming urban space
Protective environments in disaster and emergency
Conclusion
Biography
Sheridan Bartlett works primarily on issues of urban poverty as they affect children in low-income countries, bridging the gap between the work of child-focused agencies and the broader development agenda.
"Sheridan Bartlett offers a trenchant analysis of the complex network of physical and sociocultural features that constitute the ecology of childhood violence. Her book unpacks this complex network, with critical insights for policy and practice, organizing and extending what we know about how environments transact with people and institutions to endanger children." — Gary William Evans, College of Human Ecology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
"Mainstream development rarely considers violence against children and its catastrophic impacts. This book makes a compelling case for bringing children’s protection into development practice, and especially for supporting the organized communities that can best meet children’s needs, alongside their efforts for equity and better living conditions." — David Satterthwaite, International Institute for Environment and Development, London
"Ranging expertly across child development, protection, poverty, urbanization and community development, Sheridan Bartlett makes a compelling case for considering the physical dimensions of violence. This book forever changes our understanding of violence by opening up its framing beyond the personal and by masterfully embedding it in a larger socio-spatial ecology." — Sudeshna Chatterjee, CEO, Action For Children’s Environments, New Delhi
"This remarkable, authoritative volume makes a unique contribution to our understanding of the causes, consequences and most effective means of addressing the numerous forms of violence endured by children across the globe. Arguing that children’s surroundings can be a crucial determinant, Sheridan Bartlett makes a forceful case for expanding child protection beyond the immediate and personal to embrace the spatial and material conditions that structure children’s lives. Bartlett’s razor sharp observation is substantiated by compelling research evidence and concrete examples; I highly recommend this book, with its fresh perspective, to all who seek to get to grips with and bring an end to one of the world’s gravest social problems." — Jo Boyden, Professor of International Development, University of Oxford
