Our society routinely makes decisions without consulting a quarter of the population.
我们在做决定时总是会忽略四分之一的人的意见。
We're making choices about land use, energy production and natural resources without the ideas and experiences of the full community.
我们做土地使用、能源开发和自然资源的规划时，并没有把所有人的意见和建议考虑在内。
The car, an inanimate object, has more say over public policy than this group of citizens.
甚至无生命的汽车在政策制定时都比他们更有话语权。
Can you guess which group I'm talking about? It's children.
你们能猜到我说的是谁吗？是孩子们。
I work in urban design, and not surprisingly, most cities are designed by adults.
我的工作是城市规划，大家都知道大部分的城市是由成年人设计的。
Urban planners, architects, developers, politicians, and occasionally, a few loud citizens.
包括城市规划师、建筑师、开发商、政治家，偶尔还包括部分声音比较大的市民。
Rarely do you consider the voices of a group of four-year-olds, barely tall enough to reach the podium at city council chambers.
我们基本不会考虑四岁孩子的意见，毕竟他们还没有市议会会议室的桌子高。
But today, I want to ask you this: What would happen if we asked children to design our cities?
但今天我想问你们：如果我们让孩子参与到城市设计中，会怎么样？
Back in 2009, I was introduced to a small group of people who wanted to start a child-friendly city initiative in Boulder, Colorado.
在2009年，我经介绍加入了一个科罗拉多波尔的儿童友好城市计划。
I come from a family of civil rights advocates,
我家里人是民权的支持者，
and I had spent my career until that point working with low-income children and families.
此前我也一直跟低收入的儿童和家庭一起工作。
But I had never heard of a child-friendly city initiative before.
但从未听说过儿童友好城市计划。
So I figured its purpose would be to address some of the frustrations I had encountered as the parent of a young child.
所以我以为它的目的在于解决我们父母经常遇到的一些问题。
Perhaps we would advocate for more changing tables in restaurants.
这样的话那我可以提议饭店增加一些可调桌。
Or create indoor play spaces for those cold and rainy days.
或者增加一些室内游戏空间，可以在冷的时候或者雨天用。
In other words, make the city more hospitable to children and families.
也就是让孩子还家人可以在这个城市生活的更舒适。
It wasn't until after I committed to this project that I realized I had it all wrong.
直到参与了这个项目，我才知道我错了。
We wouldn't be designing better cities for children.
我们并不会给孩子创造一个更好的环境。
Children would be designing better cities for themselves, and for the rest of us, too.
孩子自己设计的城市会对他们更好，也会对我们更好。
Now, I bet you're skeptical about this idea.
我想你们一定很怀疑这件事的可行性。
And honestly, I was, too. I mean, there must be a reason the voting age is 18.
我曾经也这样想。毕竟，年满18周岁才有投票权一定是有其理由的。
How could children possibly understand complex ideas such as the affordable housing crisis
孩子们怎么可能理解得了住房危机这样的复杂概念，
or how to develop a transportation master plan?
他们怎么会知道怎样设计交通管理系统呢？
And even if they had ideas, wouldn't they be childish? Or unreasonable?
甚至就算他们有想法，不会太幼稚或不合理吗？
Do our cities really need a park made out of candy?
我们真的需要一座糖果搭成的公园吗？
Or a bridge with water cannons that fire water onto unsuspecting kayakers below?
或者我们真的需要一座配有水枪好攻击皮艇上的乘客的桥吗？
While these concerns sound legitimate, I realized that not including children in city planning was a bigger design problem.
尽管这些担忧听起来很合理，我却意识到不让孩子们参与城市规划存在更大的问题。
After all, shouldn't we include end users in the design process?
毕竟，我们不应该把最终的使用者考虑在内吗？
If we're building a park to be largely used by kids, then kids should have a say in the park's design.
如果我们要建一座主要供孩子们玩耍的公园，那么孩子们在公园的设计上应该有发言权。
So with all of this in mind, we formed a program called "Growing Up Boulder,"
所以考虑了这些之后，我们成立了一个组织叫“成长的博尔德”，
and my job is to work with children ages zero through 18 to come up with innovative city-design solutions.
我的工作就是跟那些从一岁不到到18岁的孩子们合作，提出有创意的城市规划方案。
How do we do this, you might ask? Let me give you a real example.
你可能会问，我们怎么做到这件事呢？我来举个例子。
In 2012, the city of Boulder decided to redesign a large downtown park, known as the Civic Area.
2012年，博尔德决定对一个很大的市级公园进行重新设计，这个公园叫市民中心。
This space is bounded by a farmers' market on one end,
它的一端是一个农贸市场，
Boulder Public Library on the other end, and by Boulder Creek, which runs through the middle.
另一端是博尔德公共图书馆，中间穿过了一条博尔德河。
The space needed a new design to better handle the creek's inevitable flash floods,
新的设计中必须更好的应对博尔德河的洪水问题，
restore a sense of safety to the area and support an expanded farmers' market.
恢复市民的安全感，同时还要支持农贸市场的扩建。
So from 2012 through 2014, we engaged more than 200 young people in the process,
于是在2012到2014年间，我们让200多位年轻人参与其中，
ranging from preschool through high school students.
年纪从学龄前儿童到高中生不等。
Now, how did we do this? Let me explain.
那我们现在怎么做呢？让我来解释一下。
First, we visited children in their classrooms and presented the project:
首先我们去学生的教室给他们展示这个项目：
what it was, why their ideas mattered and what would happen with their recommendations.
为什么他们的想法很重要，以及他们的建议会带来什么。
Before we could influence them, we asked children to record their ideas, based on their own lived experiences.
为了防止受到我们的影响，我们让学生们根据自己的生活经验录下他们的建议。
Then we asked children to go on a field trip with us,
然后我们邀请学生们和我们一起实地考察旅行，
to document what they liked and didn't like about the space, using photography.
用照片的形式记录下他们喜欢什么，不喜欢什么。
Through green picture frames, students highlighted what they liked about the space, such as college students, tubing down the creek.
学生们用绿色相框标出他们喜欢的部分，比如大学生，在河里漂流。
Then they flipped those frames over and used the red side to highlight things they didn't like, such as trash.
然后把相框翻过来，用红色相框标出他们不喜欢的部分，比如垃圾。
Our sixth-grade students studied the Civic Area by researching sites with similar challenges from around the world.
六年级的学生的研究方法是调查世界上其他相似景点的情况。
Then, we invited the kids to combine their original ideas with their new inspiration,
然后我们请学生把他们原本的想法和新的想法结合起来，
to synthesize solutions to improve the space.
整合成可以用来改进这里的设计的方案。
Each class invited adult planners, city council and community members into the classroom, to share and discuss their recommendations.
每个年级都有邀请成年设计师、市议会成员还有社区成员走进教室，跟大家讨论和分享他们的建议。
Boulder's senior urban planners stepped over blocks and stuffed animals to explore preschool students' full-size classroom recreation of the Civic Area.
博尔德的高级城市规划师跨过积木和填充动物玩具，探索按照学龄前儿童教室对市民中心重建。
Adult planners marveled at the students' ideas as they shared a park constructed out of a jelly bracelet.
成年设计师对孩子们用果冻手镯搭起的公园这一想法感到很惊讶。
It was supposed to be an ice-skating rink.
这个地方本来是一片溜冰场。
And then, public art constructed from animal-shaped plastic beads.
公共艺术中心是用动物形状的塑料珠子做成的。
And while this may seem ridiculous, it isn't so different from the models that architects create.
这些东西看起来很可笑，但它实际上跟设计师们搭的建筑模型差别并不大。
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.
四年之后，我很高兴的跟大家报告大部分孩子的想法已经在市民中心实施了。
For example, there will be improved access to Boulder Creek, so kids can play safely in the water.
比如，通往博尔德河的入口进行了改进，孩子们可以安全地在水里玩耍。
Lighting in previously dark underpasses, so high school students can walk home safely after school at night.
原先黑暗的地下通道装上了灯，于是高中生晚上下课之后可以安全地走回家。
And separated biking and walking paths, so speeding bikers won't hit young people as they stroll by the creek.
还有自行车道和人行道分开，于是自行车骑的很快的人不会撞到在河边散步的人。
My daughter and I even skated on a new, child-requested ice-skating rink, last winter.
我和我的女儿去年冬天还在新的溜冰场滑了冰。
So, were all of the kids' ideas implemented at the Civic Area? Of course not. Democracy is a messy process.
那么是所有的孩子们的建议都被采用了吗？当然没有。民主是很复杂的。
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.
但就像理智的受过高等教育的成年人不会要求所有的想法都要付诸实施一样，九岁的孩子也不会这么要求。
We've now been using this process for eight years,
我们现在采用这种方式已经八年的时间了，
and along the way, we've found some incredible benefits to designing cities with children.
一路走来，我们发现了很多跟孩子一起建设城市的好处。
First of all, kids think differently from adults. And that's a good thing.
首先，孩子跟成人的想法是不同的。这是好事。
Adults think about constraints, how much time will a project take, how much money will it cost and how dangerous will it be.
成人总会想到各种限制，这个工程耗时多久，耗资多少，会有什么危险。
In other words, "Are we going to get sued?"
换句话说：“我会被起诉吗？”
It's not that these constraints aren't real,
并不是这些顾虑不现实，
but if we kill off ideas from the beginning, it limits our creativity and dampens the design process.
只是如果我们在一开始就扼杀了种种可能性，它就会限制我们的创造力，使我们的设计受限。

Kids, on the other hand, think about possibilities.
而孩子们会更多的考虑可能性。
For kids, the sky is the limit. Literally.
对孩子们来说，天空才是界限。
When we worked with middle-school students to design teen-friendly parks,
我们跟中学生一起设计儿童友好公园时，
they drew pictures of skydiving, hang gliding, and jumping from trampolines into giant foam pits.
他们还画了跳伞和滑翔翼，还有在巨大充气床上蹦极。
Some of this sounds far-fetched, but the commonalities among the activities revealed an important story.
其中有些听起来难以实现，但这些活动的共性表明了一件重要的事。
Our adolescents wanted thrill-seeking opportunities.
那就是青少年需要这种寻求刺激的机会。
Which makes perfect sense, given their developmental stage in life.
考虑到他们生命的发展阶段，这是非常有意义的。
So our task, as connectors between inspiration and reality,
于是，作为灵感和现实之间的连接环节，
was to point them towards activities and equipment that actually could be installed in a park.
我们的任务就是引导他们去注意那些可以真正安装在公园的设施。
This is exactly what parks in Australia have done, with their extensive zip lines and their 30-foot-tall climbing towers.
这就是澳大利亚公园所做的，长长的高空索道和30英尺高的攀爬塔。
When kids dream up a space, they almost always include fun, play and movement in their designs.
当孩子们构思一个空间的时候，总是会把娱乐、游戏和运动这些概念融入到他们的设计中。
Now, this is not what adults prioritize.
而这些并不是现在的成年人会优先考虑的。
But research shows that fun, play and movement are exactly what adults need to stay healthy, too.
但研究发现，娱乐、游戏和运动也正是成年人保持健康的必要因素。
Who wouldn't enjoy a tree house containing a little lending library and comfortable beanbag chairs for reading?
谁会不喜欢有一个小型借阅图书馆和舒适的充气椅以供阅读的树屋呢？
Or what about a public art display that sprays paint onto a canvas each time you walk up the steps?
还有你每次走过就会往帆布上喷出颜料的艺术展示区呢？
In addition to fun and play, children value beauty in their designs.
除了娱乐和游戏，孩子们也很重视设计的美感。
When tasked with designing dense affordable housing,
在设计密集的经济适用房时，
kids rejected the blocks of identical, beige condominiums so many developers favor,
孩子们拒绝了很多人喜欢的、一片片千篇一律的米黄色的公寓，
and instead, put bright colors on everything, from housing to play equipment.
相反，他们在从房屋到家具的所有东西上都用上了明亮的颜色。
They placed flowers between biking and walking paths, and placed benches along the creek,
他们在自行车道和人行道上放了花，溪边准备了椅子，
so kids could hang out with their friends and enjoy the tranquility of the water. Which leads me to nature.
这样他们就可以和朋友们一起出去玩，享受水边的静谧。他们也能亲近自然。
Children have a biological need to connect with nature, and this shows up in their designs.
孩子们有一种亲近自然的生物本能，这一点也在他们的设计中体现了出来。
They want nature right in their backyards, not four blocks away.
他们希望大自然就在自家后院，而不是在四个街区以外。
So they design communities that incorporate water, fruit trees, flowers and animals into their common spaces on site.
所以他们设计的社区公共区域里有河水、果树、花和动物。
For better or worse, this is logical,
不管怎样，这是合理的，
because five-year-olds today are rarely allowed to walk four blocks to access a park by themselves.
因为现在5岁的孩子很少有被允许自己去四个街区以外的公园的。
And nature in one's immediate environment benefits everyone, since it has been shown to have restorative effects for all ages.
而自然对于附近的所有人都有利，因为它有益于各个年龄阶段的人的健康。
It may come as a surprise, but we even take into consideration the desires or our littlest citizens, babies and toddlers.
可能这件事会让你们觉得惊讶，其实我们还考虑了我们最小的市民，也就是小婴儿们的需求。
From toddlers, we learned that the joy of walking comes from what you discover along the way.
对蹒跚学步的婴儿来说，我们认为走路的快乐来自于你在路上发现的东西。
When they evaluated the walkability of Boulder's 19th Street corridor,
当他们评估博尔德19大街走廊的可步行性时，
toddlers spent long stretches exploring leaves in a ditch and sparkles in the sidewalk.
发现蹒跚学步的婴儿花了很长时间探索沟里的树叶以及人行道上的亮点。
They reminded us to slow down and design a path where the journey is as important as the destination.
他们提醒我们要慢下来，设计了一条你会觉得走路的过程和终点一样重要的路
In addition to trees and plants, kids almost always include animals in their designs.
除了树和其他植物，孩子们几乎每次都会在设计中加上动物。
Insects, birds and small mammals figure prominently into children's pictures.
昆虫、鸟类和小型哺乳动物经常出现在他们的图画中。
Whether it's because they're closer to the ground and can see the grasshoppers better than we can,
不管这是因为他们比我们更靠近地面，可以更清楚的看到地上的蚱蜢，
or simply because they have a greater sense of empathy for other beings,
还是仅仅因为他们有更强的对其他物种的同情心，
children almost always include non-human species in their ideal worlds.
孩子们总是会将非人类的物种包括在他们的理想世界里。
Across the board, children are inclusive in their city planning.
总的来说，孩子们的城市设计中包含了很多东西。
They design for everyone, from their grandmother in a wheelchair to the homeless woman they see sleeping in the park.
他们的设计会考虑到所有人，从他们坐着轮椅的奶奶，到睡在公园里的无家可归的妇人。
Children design for living creatures, not for cars, egos or corporations.
孩子们为了活着的生物而设计，而不是为了汽车、自尊心或企业而设计。
The last and perhaps most compelling discovery we made is that a city friendly to children is a city friendly to all.
最后也可能是最重要的发现就是，对孩子友好的城市就是一个对所有人都好的城市。
Bogota, Colombia mayor Enrique Penalosa observed that children are a kind of indicator species.
哥伦比亚波哥大的市长恩里克·潘纳罗萨发现孩子身上具有指向性。
If we can build a successful city for children, we will have a successful city for all people. Think about it.
如果我们建设了一所对孩子们来说成功的城市，那我们就有了一座对所有人来说都成功的城市。想想吧。
Kids can't just hop in a car and drive to the store.
孩子们没办法跳上一辆汽车，直接开车去商店。
And most kids can't afford an expensive lunch at the nearby cafe.
大部分孩子也没有足够的钱去附近的咖啡店吃一顿昂贵的午餐。
So if we build cities that take into the consideration their needs for alternative forms of transportation and for cheaper food venues,
如果我们建设的城市能把他们对多种交通方式和便宜的食物的需求考虑在内，
we meet the needs of many other populations, too.
那我们也就同时满足了很多其他人的需求。
The more frequent and more affordable bus service, so desired by our youth,
年轻人所需要的更多班次以及更便宜的汽车服务，
also supports the elderly who wish to live independently, after they can no longer drive cars.
同样也适用于那些无法开车、希望独立生活的老人。
Teens' recommendations for smooth, protected walking and skateboarding paths
孩子们提出的更加畅通、保护措施更完善的漫步和滑板的道路的建议，
also support the person in a wheelchair who wishes to go smoothly down the path, or the parent pushing a new stroller.
也能帮到那些坐着轮椅、想要平稳通过这一道路的人，或是推着新的婴儿车的父母。
So to me, all of this has revealed something important. An important blind spot.
所以对我来说，所有的这些都揭示了很重要的事情。一个重要的盲区。
If we aren't including children in our planning, who else aren't we including?
如果我们不在做计划时把孩子考虑在内，那我们应该考虑谁呢？
Are we listening to people of color, immigrants, the elderly and people with disabilities, or with reduced incomes?
我们有听取不同肤色的人种、移民、老年人、残疾人和低收入者的意见吗？
What innovative design solutions are we overlooking, because we aren't hearing the voices of the full community?
就因为我们没有听取所有人的声音，我们忽视了多少有创意的设计啊？
We can't possibly know the needs and wants of other people without asking.
不去问的话，我们永远无法得知其他人的需求。
That goes for kids and for everyone else.
这句话适用于孩子们，也适用于其他所有人。
So, adults, let's stop thinking of our children as future citizens and instead, start valuing them for the citizens they are today.
所以各位成年人，我们不要再把孩子们当成未来公民了，现在就把他们当成公民。
Because our children are designing the cities that will make us happier and healthier.
因为孩子们设计的城市会让我们更幸福、更健康。
Cities filled with nature, play, movement, social connection and beauty.
城市将会充满自然、游戏、运动、社会联系和美好。
Children are designing the cities we all want to live in. Thank you.
孩子们在设计的城市是我们每个人都想要去居住的。谢谢。