AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO THE
ORGANIZATION OF KINDERGARTENS
TERRITORY
Olga Vladimirovna Bakurova
Kazan Federal University, Kazan, Russia
Irina Anatolyevna Rysaeva
Kazan Federal University, Kazan, Russia
E-mail: rysira85@mail.ru
Recepción: 05/08/2019 Aceptación: 16/09/2019 Publicación: 23/10/2019
Citación sugerida:
Bakurova, O.V. y Rysaeva, I.A. (2019). An integrated approach to the organization of
kindergartens territory. 3C TIC. Cuadernos de desarrollo aplicados a las TIC. Edición Especial,
Octubre 2019, 218-231. doi: https://doi.org/10.17993/3ctic.2019.83-2.218-231
Suggested citation:
Bakurova, O.V. & Rysaeva, I.A. (2019). An integrated approach to the organization of
kindergartens territory. 3C TIC. Cuadernos de desarrollo aplicados a las TIC. Special Issue,
October 2019, 218-231. doi: https://doi.org/10.17993/3ctic.2019.83-2.218-231
3C TIC. Cuadernos de desarrollo aplicados a las TIC. ISSN: 2254-6529
220
ABSTRACT
The necessity of considering various factors in the process of improvement of
the territory of preschool institutions (PI) is considered. There is an urgent need
for an integrated approach, associated with the great importance of healthy and
proper education of the growing generation. By authors it is established that the
landscape organization of the territory of preschool institutions with a set of
planning elements, subordinates to the general plan, despite the obvious appeal,
can meet serious obstacles in the form of need of zoning of the site for groups of
children of dierent age. Laying of the “an ecological track” playing an important
role in the system of accumulation by each child of personal experience of the
correct interaction with the nature can be the decision. By authors it is also shown
that the correct planning of the territory of preschool institutions is impossible
without competent solution of questions of gardening. It is one of the major
moments in all a complex of actions for creation of the comfortable environment.
KEYWORDS
Preschool, Defensible Space, CPTED, Landscape Gardening, Ecological
Pathway.
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1. INTRODUCTION
The territory of preschool institutions (PI) - a huge component in the lives of
most children. According to NAEYC, more than 5 million people under the age
of ve attend nurseries in the United States (Herrington & Studtmann, 1998), and
staying in kindergarten is mandatory. In Russia, according to estimates by Forbes
Russia (Rogacheva, 2012), there are more than 58 000 PI (data 2012); according
to (The Ministry of labour of the Russian Federation, 2017), the number of
pupils in organizations engaged in programs of preschool education, supervision
and care of children rose increased from 2014 to 2016 by 7.8% (table), over the
last 2 years (2016-2017) 788 thousand additional seats were created.
Table 1. Number of pupils in the organizations performing educational activity on educational
programs of preschool education, supervision and care of children.
2014 2015 2016
The number of pupils in organizations
engaged in educational activities on
educational programs
6 813,6 7151,6 7342,9
among them:
in cities and towns
5 415,6 5693,8 5856,3
in rural areas 1 398,0 1 457,7 1486,6
Source: (Rogacheva, 2012).
We analyzed similar indicators in the Republic of Tatarstan; noted that only for
the period from 2015 to 2016 the growth of the number of pupils was 2.7% (211
757 and 217 384 people respectively), and in a large city, which is Kazan, the
increase is even greater (the number of children attending preschool increased
by 12.34% (Cities and districts of the Republic of Tatarstan, statistical collection,
2016).
Such large-scale gures indicate the special relevance of the task of improvement
of the territories of the DDU, creating a healthy and comfortable environment
necessary for the competent and full education of the younger generation,
taking into account the social, emotional, cognitive and physical development of
children.
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Numerous attempts to introduce modern international approaches to the design
of kindergartens in the Russian regions are faced with various obstacles that can
be objective, for example, a more severe climate and associated severe restrictions
in the plant range during landscaping. Implementation barriers (Shmis et al.,
2014), which arise as a result of the discrepancy between domestic and Western
regulations, have a huge impact.
It is proved (Li et al., 2012; Dong et al., 2017) that there is an undeniable
relationship between the characteristics of the place and the behavior of the
child in landscape spaces, and this applies to children attending dierent types
of institutions – public, private DDU, centers or families for child care (Ansari &
Winsler, 2016).
At the same time, at present a large number of Russian DDU does not have an
environmental space that fully meets modern artistic and aesthetic, ergonomic,
functional and other requirements.
The undoubted importance of creating “open, exible and child-oriented
space” (in the terminology of (Shmis et al., 2014)) requires consideration of many
dierent factors – climatic, ecological, economic, social, behavioral, et al. We will
consider each of them in detail on the example of an average kindergarten in a
large city (Kazan, MADOU “the combined kindergarten N.º 316”, “bedroom”
area in the city, the size of the occupied land area of 0.99 ha, 245 pupils (Unied
state register of legal entities, 2017).
2. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
1. Security issues in dicult conditions of social, natural and environmental
disadvantage. At once we will make a reservation that we do not concern
various risks, such as possibility of receiving small injuries, stings of insects,
food poisoning, sudden emergency situations, undesirable contacts with stray
animals, etc., and we focus on other serious problem, namely – possibility of
criminal manifestations in relation to children.
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The emergence of in 1972 defensible space theory O. Newman (Newman,
1972) marked the creation a new criminological subdiscipline, which has
become called by many «Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design»
or CPTED (Steventon, 2012; Warwick, 2009). It has evolved from a theoretical
explanation of the relationship between the characteristics of physical space and
the criminogenic level, and today it is a global strategy to combat crime and
fear of it by developing elements of the environment that prevent the criminal
events. It assumes that, in order to ensure an adequate level of security, the facility
must be “actively protected, controlled and owned”. The last word the authors
of (Zen et al., 2014), obviously, interpreted as “having the owner, someone else,
not abandoned.”
Protection of kindergartens from criminal attacks is a set of measures, the list
of which depends not only on the preferences and wishes of the kindergarten
management and parents, but is dictated, rst, by objective necessity. CPTED
denes them as:
• Natural observation, which involves good lighting and visibility of the
territory at any time of the day and eliminates the existence of physical
environment deciencies in the form of abandoned areas, “blind” zones,
including video equipment. Such closed locations primarily attract possible
criminal elements; here we can also include visual control of the street
from the windows (the concept of “eyes upon the street” (Jacobs, 1961))
• Proper maintenance and care of the territory. Well-maintained, well-
groomed, comfortable spaces not only attract regular, “authorized” (Zen et
al., 2014) users, but also repel others, in full accordance with the “theory of
broken windows” Wilson-Kelling (Wilson & Kelling, 1982) and the policy
of zero tolerance for any manifestations of deviant behavior (Krayushkina
& Shagabutdinov, 2011)
• Strengthening of the territory and organization of access control,
i.e. implementation the principle of “locked gates”. Reliable fencing
will prevent, on the one hand, unauthorized entry into the territory of
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unauthorized persons through uncontrolled entrances, breaks, manholes,
looseness in the fences, and on the other - the escape of children or,
alternatively, just running out to the next roadway. Let’s refer here the
creation of passive access control points with the help of spatial design,
which directs people along certain paths, thereby limiting their movement
through the territory (Zen et al., 2014). Easily perceived boundaries create
a sense of security, “territoriality” (Newman, 1972; Lynch, 2013), i.e. form
mechanisms that make space safe in the minds of its inhabitants (Warwick,
2009).
D. Jacobs (Jacobs, 1961) considers the clear demarcation of public and private
spaces (in our case, this is the territory of the remote control and the adjacent
zone), as well as the increase in pedestrian activity in the adjacent territory to
be indispensable conditions for creating a safe environment. In this respect, the
situation in this kindergarten is very favorable, as the kindergarten has a secure
fence with access control system, is surrounded by high-rise residential buildings,
and porches, and the pedestrian trac is very signicant.
Of course, such organization of the protected space system, which implements
the concept of situational crime prevention (Krayushkina & Shagabutdinov,
2011), does not in any way exclude traditional methods of emergency prevention
and response (physical protection, panic buttons, emergency call channels a.o.).
2. A huge amount of work is devoted to the organization of the territory, site
planning, creating a comfortable gaming and learning environment. Thus, the
review (Dong et al., 2017) presents a synthesis of 30 studies from 1985 to 2010
on the interaction of children with the “open environment”. The ndings
suggest that the landscape features aect the physical activity of children.
Providing children with the opportunity to learn natural and anthropogenic
elements in their environment, despite the possibility of accidental injuries,
contributes to the development of cognitive, physical and social skills.
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The debate on the need for outdoor play has been largely driven by a range of
phenomena that impede children’s play experience in the external environment:
rapid urbanization, increased trac, poorly planned urban environments and
pollution, and many other factors , as well as the pressure of educational and play
technologies in the indoor environment and lack of awareness of the importance
of outdoor play for the development and well-being of children, the formation of
motor and cognitive skills, interpersonal attitudes and emotions.
Issues related to the activities of PI in the Russian Federation are regulated by
the state educational standard of preschool education (Aziz & Said, 2012), the
content of which aects, including the layout of the site. Design and comfortable
conditions of stay of preschool children in kindergarten are closely connected
with the correct organization of its territory. The authors (Shmis et al., 2014) note
the current trend, the meaning of which is to replace the traditional (institutional)
planning scheme on a fundamentally dierent, the location of the elements of
which is subordinated to the idea of the educational landscape (Herrington &
Studtmann, 1998; Shmis et al., 2014).
Figure 1. The transition from institutional typology (left) to the typology of educational landscape
(right). Source: (Shmis et al., 2014).
It should be noted that the landscape organization of the territory of the PI
with a set of planning elements subordinated to the general idea, despite its
obvious attractiveness, can meet serious obstacles in the form of the need for
zoning the site for groups of children of dierent ages. The solution may be the
laying of an “ecological pathway”, which plays an important role in the system
of accumulation of each child’s personal experience of correct interaction
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with nature. The ecological trail is designed to use walks to communicate with
children with their immediate environment, broaden their horizons and improve
their health in the fresh air. It promotes environmental education of preschool
children, causes a sense of closeness to nature, empathy for all living things, care
and respect for the world. Walks along the ecological path develop children’s
observation and creative activity through games, research, observation, theatrical
activities and other activities.
3. Proper planning of the PI territory is impossible without a competent solution
of gardening issues. This is one of the most important moments in the whole
complex of measures to create a comfortable environment.
The concept of preschool education in nature is not new. Since the rst half of
the 50-ies of XX century, when Ella Flatau founded the rst forest kindergarten
in Denmark, the idea begins to spread very quickly and today such institutions are
quite common in England, Scotland, USA, Japan, Switzerland, Finland, Norway,
Latvia et al. (Hafner, 2002; Robertson, 2008; Miklitz, 2011; Knight, 2013).
However, in the cities we have to be content with trivial landscaping of the
territory of the DDU in compliance with certain standards, and if in the 70s of
the twentieth century the share of the landscaped area of the PI had to be “as
a rule, not less than 50% of the area of the site”, the current decree allows “in
the cities in the conditions of the current dense urban development ... reduction
of landscaping to 20% of the area free from development”. Thus, we observe a
clear and very alarming trend towards a reduction in the area of green areas in
the territories of the PI, when the green zone is reduced to 5-10%, and in this
regard, it becomes clear concern about the general condition of landings, their
quantitative and qualitative characteristics.
On the example of the selected PI, the taxation of plantations was carried out,
which showed the good condition of most plants (healthy specimens predominate,
having no external signs of damage to the crown and trunk, dead and dying
branches). At the same time, it was noted that the trees on the territory grow
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randomly, there is no continuous system of landscaping, and a signicant age of
the object (more than 30 years) will require soon rejuvenating and recreational
activities.
The biodiversity of landings in modern Russian PI is small, and in fact it is the
main factor in improving natural habitats, serves to achieve environmental goals:
improving the quality of the urban landscape and ensuring a more sustainable
and comfortable environment. Plants should be varied in height, leaf color,
owering time, fruit and seed ripening. This selection of trees and shrubs ensures
the formation of children’s ideas about the diversity of the oral world, develops
aesthetic perception. Poor landing sheet leads to the fact that in the game space
is not fully implemented subject development environment for children, suers
from the aesthetic side of the created landscape compositions, the child does
not receive information about all the richness of the surrounding nature. The
meager range of plants not only steals the child emotionally, but also serves as a
prerequisite for the possible simultaneous attack of green spaces by age, as well as
the spread of diseases throughout the territory.
When selecting plants for landscaping, it is necessary to consider not only their
appearance, which determines the artistic value of the created compositions,
but also those numerous inherent qualities that have a direct eect on the
physiological processes of the human body and constitute the therapeutic value
of the natural landscape. Sanitizing properties of plants are determined in the
rst place, phytoncidity, i.e. the ability to produce and secrete antimicrobial
volatile substances, possessing bactericidal action. The plant environment creates
a favorable microclimate, reduces dust, gas pollution and noise. The specic
nature of the object imposes serious limitations the composition of the used
plants, namely, a strict ban on the use of poisonous, prickly and fruiting plants,
species that can cause allergy symptoms in the owering period, plants and foliage
which can be cut etc. Not to forget about the orientation of the windows of the
group rooms and verandahs and to prevent excessive shading.
The concept of landscaping was based on two main principles.
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The rst is the creation of compositions of Continuous decorative” using a bright
palette of plants - from the early owering forsythia europaea to the late autumn
maples of the Tatar Acer tataricum and the riverine Acer ginnala.
The second, usually used in the creation of rock gardens and generally rocky
gardens-the principle of minimum care, in which, if possible, reduced all
agricultural activities: weeding, feeding, pruning, etc.
Considering the above – mentioned restrictions, the plant range was selected for
the maximum implementation of all functions of properly organized landscaping-
environmental, protective, decorative, and, nally, educational.
3. SUMMARY
1. There is an indisputable interrelation between characteristics of the place and
behavior of the child in landscape spaces.
2. The tendency to reduction of the area of the planted trees and shrubs sites in
territories of preschool institutions when the green zone is reduced to 5-10%
is revealed.
3. It is dened that the landscape organization of territories of preschool
institutions can meet serious obstacles in the form of need of zoning of the
site for groups of children of dierent age.
4. It is established that the biodiversity of landings in modern Russian preschool
institutions is small, and it serves achievement of the ecological purposes.
4. CONCLUSIONS
The problems concerning the improvement of preschool institutions in the
conditions of modern Russia are considered. The emphasis is placed on the need
for an integrated approach, including the safety of kindergartens, their planning,
landscape gardening, biodiversity conservation of green areas.
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5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The work is performed according to the Russian Government Program of
Competitive Growth of Kazan Federal University. The author expresses deep
gratitude to the sta of the Geography and Cartography Department for the
valuable comments made in the preparation of this article.
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