Résumé
La présence des tout jeunes enfants dans la rue se manifeste parfois comme des gestes d’évasion et d’exploration arrachés à la surveillance parentale. A y regarder de près, la manifestation inspirée de ces « gestes d’échappement » semble dévoiler une dimension essentielle de la relation sensible au milieu urbain que l’architecte ne devrait en rien perdre de vue. L’enfant peut faire exister la ville autrement et en révéler une texture particulière que l’adulte tend à ne plus savoir lire. Mais cette ouverture au champ phénoménal de l’enfant, qui aide au travail imaginaire de l’architecte, subit une tension de sens opposé venant d’un ensemble de directives et de prescriptions techniques normatives liées au développement d’une politique de certification de la qualité particulièrement active dans le domaine de l’enfance et du design urbain. En voulant garantir l’utilisation raisonnable et informée de la ville, cette politique évacue bon nombre de possibilités d’irruption du jeu dans l’espace public, grâce auxquelles l’enfant apprend à vivre avec d’autres, potentialise des capacités remarquables et trouve parfois un incomparable lieu d’enchantement.
The presence of young children in the street sometimes manifests itself through moves to escape or explore beyond parental supervision. Taking a closer look, the inspired manifestation of such gestures of escape reveals an essential dimension of the sensory relation to the urban environment, which architects should bear in mind. A child can make the city exist differently, revealing a particular texture which an adult often no longer registers. But this opening into the child’s phenomenal field, which may help architects in their efforts of imagination, is subject to a contrary tension due to an array of normative technical directives and constraints entailed by the spread of quality-certification policies, particularly forcible with regard to children and urban design. In their drive to guarantee reasonable, informed use of the city, such policies eliminate many of the loopholes through which play may break out into the public space, thus depriving children of the opportunity to learn to live with others, potentialize remarkable abilities and, perhaps, discover a place of unique delight.
The presence of young children in the street sometimes manifests itself through moves to escape or explore beyond parental supervision. Taking a closer look, the inspired manifestation of such gestures of escape reveals an essential dimension of the sensory relation to the urban environment, which architects should bear in mind. A child can make the city exist differently, revealing a particular texture which an adult often no longer registers. But this opening into the child’s phenomenal field, which may help architects in their efforts of imagination, is subject to a contrary tension due to an array of normative technical directives and constraints entailed by the spread of quality-certification policies, particularly forcible with regard to children and urban design. In their drive to guarantee reasonable, informed use of the city, such policies eliminate many of the loopholes through which play may break out into the public space, thus depriving children of the opportunity to learn to live with others, potentialize remarkable abilities and, perhaps, discover a place of unique delight.