Children’s Participation in Local Development and Expansion of Place Perception: Case Study of the Takarazuka City Child Committee

Abstract

This paper describes local development in the city of Takarazuka, which values the viewpoints of children. It was confirmed that Child Committee members who were given opportunities to present their opinions and proposals on local development broadened the areas they perceived as their own neighborhoods through the learning process that led to their proposals. When the children examined and visited places in the neighborhoods where they lived, they perceived the neighborhoods in broader terms. They made proposals emphasizing neighborhood history, as a result of which their place perception expanded not only geographically but also chronologically. Such experiences give children the ability to broaden their perceptions of the areas in which they live to encompass wider areas.