Planning spaces for children's sexuality

Abstract

This paper explores the manner in which planning laws that construct and govern sexual spaces within cities operate within a particular conception of children's sexuality. Planning laws (when they do mention children) often assume that children need to be protected from those sexual spaces which tend to be defined as 'adult' spaces. This is interesting because there is a strand within planning literature that advocates for the greater inclusion of children in planning decisions in their own right and with their own voice. However, this literature itself could be criticised for taking a romantic view of children in that the child is not conceptualised as ever antagonistic to dominant views about sexuality. Childhood, according to planning law, is not a space for sexual matters and is either silent on the issue or regards sexuality as something from which children need to be protected. But we know that children do have sexual identities and that children often seek spaces to express their sexuality. The question that therefore needs to be asked is whether planning law can accommodate the creation of spaces within which children can express their sexuality. The paper will utilise some examples of the application of planning law to allocate space for sexual purposes to investigate this issue.