How We Childproofed Our Cities

Kid-friendly spaces make it harder to grow up.

- Kevin Currie-Knight

INDEPENDENCE REQUIRES INFRASTRUCTURE.” That line captures the essence of The Design of Childhood. In this book Alexandra Lange, a design critic and mother, examines the history of how children’s items and spaces have been designed. These designs, she shows, can either expand or inhibit kids’ autonomy.

Consider the Tripp Trapp, an adjustable child’s chair from the early 1970s. Designed to afford children more independence, the simple seat enabled kids of different sizes to comfortably navigate in and out, as it will never be too big or small. That was the original idea, anyway. The new versions have elaborate harnesses and straps; as Lange explains, the Tripp Trapp “now comes with more binding accouterments to meet the high chair safety standards of the United States and European Union.”

The evolution of the Tripp Trapp illustrates the push and pull at the center of this book: When designing children’s items and spaces, we can design for independence or dependence, for freedom or containment.