A Reminder to Urban Planners

Given the choice, most children would rather play in a terrain vague than a playground. They would rather make mud patties out of dirt using makeshift utensils fashioned from pieces of junk, even with "real" toy utensils at hand. Children in most western countries are so overprotected--and western cities so over-designed--that they rarely get a chance anymore to discover things for themselves and improvise, using only their hands and their imagination. Vive le terrain vague!