Our Belfast

Jenny Russell

    Research output: Book/ReportBookpeer-review

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    Abstract

    Our Belfast was published to accompany the workshop and exhibition series of the same name, which ran in PLACE in 2007."Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them." Extract from The Little Prince, Saint-Exupéry, 1991.There are buildings within this city, which to different people really epitomise the place of Belfast – they are buildings, which have meaning and importance to the life of the city and the place that is Northern Ireland… But we all think that we know and understand these buildings – we expect that most people see and understand them in the same way that we do ourselves…Whether or not we realise it, we often classify children’s behaviour within the built environment as childish and immature. However research has shown that this behaviour is often merely the means by which children are investigating and learning to understand their environment. In addition to this, it is also clear that children’s perceptions and understanding of space are different to those of their grown-up counterparts and the design of space can have a huge impact on the behaviour, well-being and education of children.A child uses all of his or her senses to understand a place whereas adults have learnt to rely predominantly on their sense of sight. Often we tell children to “look – don’t touch!” and in doing so perhaps we are stifling their own way of learning. Ultimately, children experience buildings and their environment in a way that is different to the way in which we see it.This book is dedicated to looking at some of the iconic buildings of Belfast through the eyes of some of the children of this city in order for us to see with fresh eyes, just what these buildings offer.
    Original languageEnglish
    Place of PublicationBelfast
    PublisherPLACE
    Number of pages28
    ISBN (Print)978-0-9558728-1-5
    Publication statusPublished (in print/issue) - 2008

    Keywords

    • Architecture
    • Children
    • Belfast
    • Drawings

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