Jia Lingbing is an independent architect, cultural tourism planner, community builder, and pioneer in cultivating children's innovative thinking. She is committed to creating a world that better promotes children's development.

In my opinion, "emotional space friendliness" is particularly important. The first two are visible and easy to achieve, but this aspect is the most difficult and crucial. Without a friendly emotional space, "child-friendly cities" and "child-friendly communities" are all castles in the air. "Child-friendly" does not mean being friendly just by updating the hardware. It also requires emotional space connections. Without human interaction, friendly emotional relationships do not exist.

Reporter: On the basis of "Child-friendly City", concepts such as "Child-friendly Community" and "Child-friendly Kindergarten" have emerged. How should we understand "child-friendly"?

Jia Lingbing: We can understand the concept of "child-friendly" from three levels: "institutional friendliness", "urban hardware friendliness", and "emotional space friendliness". The so-called "friendliness" is actually a kind of relationship, an interactive close and friendly relationship with two-way or even multi-directional emotions. Under this concept, if we further understand "child-friendly", we will have different gains.

A "child-friendly city" should not only be friendly to children, but also to all vulnerable groups such as the elderly and people with disabilities. Specifically, "institutional friendliness" means that the formulation of various laws, norms and policies in a city should take into account children's development, and the principle of "children first" should be implemented in the formulation and enforcement of all kinds of systems. "Urban hardware-friendly" means that when building urban safety, public Spaces and transportation facilities, children's opinions should be taken into account. The planning and construction should be carried out from the perspective of children's mental development level and their thinking and behavioral abilities to meet their development needs. For instance, urban construction, neighborhood renovation, and road traffic safety should all fully take into account the needs of children, facilitating their travel, study, entertainment and rest.

In my opinion, "a friendly emotional space" is particularly important. The first two are visible and easy to achieve, but this aspect is the most difficult and crucial. Without a friendly emotional space, "child-friendly cities" and "child-friendly communities" are all castles in the air. "Child-friendliness" is not achieved simply by upgrading the hardware; it also requires emotional space connections. Without human interaction, friendly emotional relationships would cease to exist.

At present, our community renovation and urban construction have gradually improved in terms of hardware, but we have fallen far short in terms of "emotional space friendliness". "Spatial emotional friendliness" means that in this space, children can interact and communicate amicably with people of different age groups, such as elders, elder brothers and sisters, and young people. A "Child-friendly city" is a vibrant one where people of all ages living in it should help, care for and develop young children. Because the growth of children requires the help of people of all ages, such as grandparents, elder brothers and sisters, etc., so that children can grow up to be healthy children. The "friendliness" in "Child-Friendly City" is a two-way interaction rather than a one-way one. Children can truly develop healthily and comprehensively only when they come into contact with more people. I like Hayao Miyazaki's films. For instance, in "Howl's Moving Castle", the protagonist Sophie was a young man, but she grew old after being enchanted. She deeply experienced the living conditions and circumstances of the elderly. As an elderly person, her interactions with the little boy Maruk took on a special meaning and value. She eventually made the little boy who liked to dress up as an old man experience the warmth and cleanliness of a family, making him lively and lovely. She helped him get out of loneliness and solitude, and also inspired Hal to become brave and take responsibility. For instance, in "The Goldfish Princess on the Cliff", next to the kindergarten of the little boy Sosuke is the Sunflower House, a community elderly care center. The arrival of the goldfish healed the loneliness of the elderly, and Sosuke also grew into a caring child who knew how to care for the elderly. In such a space, emotions flow, and children can come into contact with the elderly and people from different occupations, thereby achieving growth. The elderly also find emotional comfort from children.

"Emotional space friendliness" is the soul of "child-friendly cities" and "child-friendly communities". Some of our communities have relatively good hardware facilities and many people are involved, but we have failed to pay attention to creating a friendly spatial atmosphere and insufficient intergenerational psychological communication. While we are helping children acquire knowledge, we fail to attach importance to emotional communication, which is the key point. We once led the children in the community to conduct a survey on the elderly group in the community through the elderly care center project. The children began to discover the social existence of the elderly group other than their grandparents, as well as the health, psychology, economic income, family environment and social space needs of this group. Moreover, based on the research results, we used the video game "Minecraft", which children all love to play, as the 3D architectural design software to design an architectural concept where the kindergarten and the elderly care home are in the same space, and the elderly and children live together. The children have designed many friendly space details suitable for both the elderly and children in it. For instance, the elderly enjoy raising animals and plants, while children can learn to take care of them from the elderly. The elderly can teach children to play chess. A competition where the elderly and children make funny faces together can also be held. Wait a moment. Such research and design concepts, as well as intergenerational communication, are also of great benefit to children's healthy personality growth and social and emotional cognition.

Reporter: When it comes to the implementation of the "Child-friendly City" initiative, many people say that it should start with building one "child-friendly community" after another. As a seasoned architect, you have been involved in the construction and renovation of many communities (Spaces). From a "child-friendly" perspective, which one are you most proud of?

Jia Lingbing: So far, there haven't been any such renovation cases. Previously, I rented a two-acre villa and created an "Awu Creative Space". The yard was kept in its original ecological state and turned into the "Hundred-Herb Garden" in the children's minds. Here, children will witness the complete life of a plant, from a sapling to the growth of thick branches and then to withering. We have a yard full of chickens, ducks, geese and dogs, as well as wild geese, rabbits, weasels, hedgehogs, magpies, wild grass and all kinds of insects from Fabre's "Insect Records". When a fence of morning glories was competing with pumpkins for living space, the children did not give up the morning glories just because the pumpkins were edible. Instead, they discussed the value standards for human beings' selection and judgment of economic crops, the demand for beauty, as well as the vitality of living beings themselves and the survival competition rules of nature. We also often organize community gatherings, asking each family to cook a few signature dishes. Then, adults and children can have a "music night" together, where parents can get together to chat and discuss their children's education. We also invited some elders here to interact with the children. We invited a grandpa from Shijia Hutong to come here and interact with the children. When this grandfather was young, he once forced his son to get into Tsinghua University only, which led to the breakdown of their father-son relationship. At the party, we turned off the main lights and only left a desk lamp on, playing music. Grandpa read to us the letter he wrote to his son to mend the father-son relationship. This letter changed the relationships of several pairs of fathers and sons present. Intergenerational interaction and the mutual transmission and exchange of emotions can influence children's development and also comfort the hearts of the elderly.

Last year, I attended a conference on residential space planning and design in Tianjin, where I put forward the viewpoint of "emotional space communication" as a highlight, aiming to "enable the young to learn, the young to be creative, the middle-aged to be at ease, and the elderly to be useful", and to build the community into a friendly society. After the idea was put forward, many people expressed their willingness to move in. Whether it is the renovation of "child-friendly communities" or the construction project of "child-friendly cities", both should take into account developability and sustainability; otherwise, they will be difficult to sustain. I think this is just like a car. A good IP is the engine of the project, policies and social norms are the steering wheel, specific projects are the body, cultural attributes are the chassis, commercial sustainability is the wheels, and start-up capital is the fuel tank. The so-called cultural appeal is the cultural banner of this space. I proposed taking the traditional cultural concepts of "harmony without uniformity" and "benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness" as the cultural foundation of this crowdfunding community project. "Benevolence" means loving each other, "righteousness" means getting along well, "propriety" means not overstepping boundaries, "wisdom" means mutual understanding and learning, and "trust" means mutual trust. Through a new interpretation of traditional culture

Reporter: Could you please introduce a case of a "child-friendly city" from abroad that left a deep impression on me?

Jia Lingbing: There are many "child-friendly cities" in Europe, such as the Netherlands and Germany. Their urban planning and construction as well as the content of their communities are quite rich. They pay special attention to the safety guarantee from the perspective of children in terms of public transportation. The community retains a large number of public living Spaces, such as traditional churches, etc. Living in such a space, children can come into contact and communicate with people of all ages, and the relationships among people also become more harmonious and rich. In contrast, due to various reasons, there is a sharp break between the urban development concept and the inherent historical traditions in our country, and it is relatively backward. From cities to communities, various public Spaces are insufficient, and there is a lack of public Spaces like churches in Western communities. I once participated in the rural construction project in Lizhuang, Yibin City, Sichuan Province. Based on the revitalization of rural culture and economy, I proposed to plan a community museum. The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed that we should "firmly uphold cultural confidence". Without a high degree of cultural confidence and the prosperity and flourishing of culture, there will be no great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Fei Xiaotong also put forward the concept of "cultural self-awareness" in his later years. In his view, the so-called "cultural self-awareness" refers to the understanding of one's own nation's culture. The prerequisite for cultural confidence is cultural self-awareness, and cultural self-awareness is for cultural confidence. The purpose of cultural self-awareness is to gain cultural autonomy, thereby determining the development direction of one's own culture.

Through a series of activities on space creation and cultural ecological reshaping, the community museum has explored a community-building solution closely related to rural revitalization and people's livelihood economy, enhancing public participation and cultural cohesion, and stimulating the vitality of rural culture and the value of kinship.

We organized the villagers to collect various old items in their daily lives, as well as family stories and red cultural tales, and create a tree-shaped art installation, thus forming a space that connects history and the future. In the future, all kinds of activities in the village, such as ancestral worship, full moon banquets, and wedding ceremonies, can be held under the tree. Whenever a new member is added to the village, the family tree can be expanded a little, symbolizing the expansion of branches and leaves. Through a series of cultural activities, a network of human resources and capital reserves based on kinship are built for rural areas, fostering a sense of belonging and achieving an exponential promotion effect. In this way, a rural cultural network of human affection and friendship is formed invisibly. The creation of a humanistic environment is conducive to the improvement of the business environment, and a safe and stable business environment will attract more investors. Humanistic construction and economic development go hand in hand. We aim to create beautiful villages, enhance residents' sense of happiness, lay a cultural foundation and create an emotional environment for the future development of rural children.

When we were carrying out rural renovation in Changzhi, Shanxi Province, we also created an emotionally friendly space like a community learning center. Emphasize mutual communication in learning and emotional flow. At that time, we had a requirement that all teams coming to the countryside for study Tours should give two lessons to left-behind children in the countryside, such as sharing bikes, robots or cultural lectures, etc. At that time, students from both Zhengzhou University and Shanxi University came here to give lectures to the children, and we also prepared content related to the regional culture of rural areas. We invited the teachers from the local art gallery to sort out the local myths and historical figures' stories as well as the cultural contents such as the ancient buildings, temples, painted sculptures and murals in the Changzhi area, and let the left-behind children tell them to the tourists in the form of PPTS. We also organized the local talkative elders to act as "living story machines" and randomly tell these myths and historical figures' stories to the tourists... In this way, the entire village came alive. As always, we should take "emotional space" as an important part of the renovation of friendly communities. Whether it is rural or urban construction, intergenerational emotions should be integrated into the space to achieve the exchange and transmission of emotions.

In 2018, we conducted a social survey on child-friendly cities, leading children to investigate the unfriendly aspects of public Spaces in the city. The children found that some subway stations do not have direct elevators. When taking their younger siblings out, they have to take their baby strollers up the stairs. Many handrails are for adults. Street vendors are occupying the road for business, so children can only walk on the motor vehicle lane. The car is always parked on the sidewalk. There are no adjustable seats for children in the restaurant and no children's toilets in the shopping mall. They have to use sanitary ware of the same size as adults, which is very inconvenient. Many museums and science and technology museums do not have children's areas. There are too few playgrounds and parks suitable for children... The children also put forward many solutions and proposed ideas for ensuring children's safe travel

Electronic monitoring devices: Navigation/dashcams use remote sensing satellites to alert drivers in advance when they detect children ahead.

Navigation device/dashcam: It can locate the road conditions ahead through satellite. If the navigation device can accurately identify and alert the driver that there are children moving ahead, it can ask the driver to be vigilant in advance and pay attention to avoiding them. Meanwhile, children can wear corresponding devices (such as children's watches and other electronic instruments) to be conveniently located.

Advantages: It can minimize the risk of traffic threats to children caused by drivers' blind spots. It can be used in conjunction with the devices that are now widely available.

Affordable cost: The cost of devices that children can wear ranges from 200 to 1,000 yuan. Compared with the loss caused to a family by a child's traffic accident, this expense is acceptable.

Reporter: Kindergartens are important Spaces for children's life and play, and they are also an important part of the community. What's your opinion on the problems that many of our kindergartens have in terms of space creation, such as excessive decoration, over-beautification, and severe adult-oriented behavior? Do you have any good suggestions or opinions regarding the environmental creation and renovation of kindergartens?

Jia Lingbing: In my opinion, on the one hand, since most kindergarten teachers are women, they will dress up the kindergarten like a home. From the perspective of human development history, in the early days, men mostly engaged in hunting activities while women mostly engaged in gathering activities, which led to different understandings of space between the two groups and affected female teachers' perception and understanding of space. On the other hand, from the perspective of cultural traditions and customs, I think it has also been influenced by the "slogan-like habit". Slogans have permeated our daily lives and imperceptibly influenced our understanding of the expression of ideas. We will also unconsciously incorporate this understanding into the spatial decoration and layout of schools and enterprises and public institutions. Space is an important tool for cultivating people's visual limits. For instance, the guardrails on the tops of high-rise buildings, the median strips or green belts in the middle of urban traffic roads, these are all concrete boundaries, while various policies and laws are abstract boundaries. In kindergartens, there are often some perplexing conflicts, such as a child bumping into or stepping on someone else, which leads to a conflict. In fact, this was not done on purpose by this child. It might be that he has a spatial sense disorder and is unable to judge the distance between each other visually, which is why he bumped into other children. If teachers do not understand this issue and resort to absolute punishment, it is unfair to the children. Therefore, kindergartens should attach great importance to the renovation and design of the campus space, and make full use of the space to develop children's thinking. For instance, designing zebra crossings of different scales in Spaces such as corridors and walkways can help children recognize spatial distances; using toy racks and desks to understand three-dimensional Spaces; and using toys to create role recognition can enhance children's social and emotional cognition and build friendly relationships, and so on. In addition, our teacher education major does not offer a course on space beautification. Therefore, it is suggested that this part of the content be added to the training for kindergarten teachers. Good space design can soothe children's emotions and help improve the teaching quality of teachers. For instance, the color, shape and privacy of the sleeping space. Many kindergartens are troubled by children's nap time, which is closely related to the design of the sleeping space. Children's sense of spatial security is different from that of adults. Based on children's spatial cognition, by designing solutions to sleep management issues, teachers can also get rest, thereby reducing child abuse incidents.