On Lines, Place Making, and Children’s Play.: An Exploration of Street Life in the Netherlands

Abstract

In this essay the author explores the diverse ways in which children are creating places for play in the streets of the city of Utrecht in the Netherlands. More specifically, the focus of the essay is on the lines that children actively draw in place-making for play and on the meaning of lines that have been drawn for them as part of the design of playgrounds in streets. The written and visual observations about children, places and lines are the result of ethnographic inquiry.