Teaching Kids Urbanism via Hit 90s Nickelodeon Cartoon
(image source: Limey)
Hey Arnold! is arguably one of the best kids cartoons of the 90’s. The show follows the lives of a group of 4th graders on their inner city adventures led by their football headed friend. Those of you who have seen the show know that the overall plot of the series is not based on the study of urbanism, but if you take a second look some basic concepts are depicted in various episodes.
Take season 1 for example:
Episode 4: Helga’s Makeover/The Old Building - In the second half of the episode we watch as Arnold is faced with the tough decision to support the preservation or the demolition of an old building. This is a common issue that many planners face in cities all over the world, so it’s quite funny to see how this 4th grader chooses to handle the situation.
Episode 7: Operation Ruthless/The Vacant Lot - Vacant and surface parking lots are an eyesore in every city, so of course Arnold and the gang take matters into their own hands in this episode with a little beautification project. The kids decide to clean up the space to create a baseball field, but are soon overrun by the adults and their designs of the new space. Now tell me this doesn’t sound familiar to every city across the nation.
The show lasted for about 5 seasons so of course there are plenty more examples to note, but you will have to take a trip back down memory lane and see for yourself. I will say that even in the episodes that don’t have the most obvious traces of urbanism and planning, they do show general aspects of life in a well planned city like the fictional Hillwood. For example, the kids walk, cycle, or take public transit to school in pretty much every episode. Most of the characters live in either boarding houses like Arnold, or some type of brownstone or apartment. Jane Jacobs would be proud to see them display the importance of having eyes on the streets. These extra eyes belong to the neighborhood butcher, florist, grocer, and mailman. Occasionally we are introduced to new street characters as well like Monkey Man, the Pigeon man, Stoop kid, and so on.
The creator based the fictional city on a combination of America’s more well planned cities like Portland, New York and Seattle. Most of the series is based on the creator’s life growing up in Seattle and Portland. The show ended with a feature film that confronts Arnold and the gang with their last urban planning challenge. A big time developer moves into the neighborhood trying to push out the residents to make way for a rather obnoxious shopping mall. (C'mon this show is genius!)
If these are the types of shows Millennials grew up on it would make perfect sense as to why they are becoming the driving force behind new urbanism.
