CERG Research Associate, Sruthi Atmakur-Javdekar, secretary for International Play Association (IPA) – India Chapter, was invited to present at ‘Kaleidoscope 2015: Participation and Play in the Urban Context’ at SNDT University, Mumbai on 30^th November, 2015. This conference was hosted in collaboration with Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Magic Bus India, IPA – India, SVT Collegeand Laureus.

The two-day conference focused on panel discussions that touched upon issues of play and participation of children living in urban areas. Ms. Sruthi’s presentation, ‘Play as a Tool in Participatory Research’ unpacked methods to engage children in participatory work, particularly from the Child Friendly Places methodology. Different stakeholders from across India including NGOs such as Magic Bus India, Headstreams, Jamghat, professionals from National Institute of Urban Affairs, and youth, researchers and educators from SNDT University, participated in the conference. Given India’s current climate to build Smart Cities with a focus on making them child friendly, Ms. Sruthi demonstrated how to engage children, young people, adults and different stakeholders to help build child friendly communities and cities in the context of urban India. Her presentation focused on examples from the implementation of the Child Friendly Places methodology in communities of Mumbai and Bhavnagar cities in India. You can read more about the implementation of the Child Friendly Places methodology in the urban Indian context in a recently peer-reviewed publication, ‘Spatializing Children’s Rights: A Comparison of Two Case Studies from Urban India’ authored by Dr. Pamela Wridt, Sruthi Atmakur-Javdekar and Dr. Roger Hart.

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