full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Mara Mintzer: How kids can help design cities

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Now, fast-forward four years, and I am pleased to report that many of the children's ideas are being imtelepemnd in the Civic Area. For example, there will be improved access to Boulder Creek, so kids can play safley in the wetar. Lighting in previously dark underpasses, so high school students can walk home safely after school at night. And separated bnikig and walking paths, so speeding bikers won't hit young people as they stroll by the ceerk. My daughter and I even skated on a new, child-requested ice-skating rink, last winetr.

So, were all of the kids' ideas implemented at the Civic Area? Of course not. Democracy is a msesy process. But just as a reasonable and well-informed adult does not expect all of her ideas to be utilized, neither does a nine-year-old. We've now been using this process for eight years, and along the way, we've found some incredible benefits to dniesgnig cities with children. First of all, kids think differently from adults. And that's a good thing. Adults think about ctnirontass, how much time will a project take, how much mnoey will it cost and how dangerous will it be. In other words, "Are we going to get sued?"

Open Cloze


Now, fast-forward four years, and I am pleased to report that many of the children's ideas are being ___________ in the Civic Area. For example, there will be improved access to Boulder Creek, so kids can play ______ in the _____. Lighting in previously dark underpasses, so high school students can walk home safely after school at night. And separated ______ and walking paths, so speeding bikers won't hit young people as they stroll by the _____. My daughter and I even skated on a new, child-requested ice-skating rink, last ______.

So, were all of the kids' ideas implemented at the Civic Area? Of course not. Democracy is a _____ process. But just as a reasonable and well-informed adult does not expect all of her ideas to be utilized, neither does a nine-year-old. We've now been using this process for eight years, and along the way, we've found some incredible benefits to _________ cities with children. First of all, kids think differently from adults. And that's a good thing. Adults think about ___________, how much time will a project take, how much _____ will it cost and how dangerous will it be. In other words, "Are we going to get sued?"

Solution


  1. creek
  2. safely
  3. constraints
  4. designing
  5. implemented
  6. money
  7. winter
  8. messy
  9. water
  10. biking

Original Text


Now, fast-forward four years, and I am pleased to report that many of the children's ideas are being implemented in the Civic Area. For example, there will be improved access to Boulder Creek, so kids can play safely in the water. Lighting in previously dark underpasses, so high school students can walk home safely after school at night. And separated biking and walking paths, so speeding bikers won't hit young people as they stroll by the creek. My daughter and I even skated on a new, child-requested ice-skating rink, last winter.

So, were all of the kids' ideas implemented at the Civic Area? Of course not. Democracy is a messy process. But just as a reasonable and well-informed adult does not expect all of her ideas to be utilized, neither does a nine-year-old. We've now been using this process for eight years, and along the way, we've found some incredible benefits to designing cities with children. First of all, kids think differently from adults. And that's a good thing. Adults think about constraints, how much time will a project take, how much money will it cost and how dangerous will it be. In other words, "Are we going to get sued?"

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
civic area 4
asked children 3
city council 2
city initiative 2
including children 2
city planning 2
young people 2
high school 2
school students 2
public art 2
city friendly 2
successful city 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
high school students 2

Important Words


  1. access
  2. adult
  3. adults
  4. area
  5. benefits
  6. bikers
  7. biking
  8. boulder
  9. children
  10. cities
  11. civic
  12. constraints
  13. cost
  14. creek
  15. dangerous
  16. dark
  17. daughter
  18. democracy
  19. designing
  20. differently
  21. expect
  22. good
  23. high
  24. hit
  25. home
  26. ideas
  27. implemented
  28. improved
  29. incredible
  30. kids
  31. lighting
  32. messy
  33. money
  34. night
  35. paths
  36. people
  37. play
  38. pleased
  39. previously
  40. process
  41. project
  42. reasonable
  43. report
  44. rink
  45. safely
  46. school
  47. separated
  48. skated
  49. speeding
  50. stroll
  51. students
  52. sued
  53. time
  54. underpasses
  55. utilized
  56. walk
  57. walking
  58. water
  59. winter
  60. words
  61. years
  62. young