What ideas might ocean geographers learn if children were to create a fictional coastal city? This work investigates the urban imaginaries on oceanic living through looking at a fictional city created by slum-dwelling children in the Philippines. Making a fictional city prioritises the engagement of children as active participants in oceanic discourses, rejecting a technocratic and adultist approach in knowledge production. Fifteen children (9-12 years old) participated in the on-site worldbuilding activity that utilised a low-tech cartographic approach for children's hands-on involvement.
The fictional coastal city called “Masayá” is situated on an island. The urban life of its residents is centred around the importance of clean water. Unique features of Masayá City include: 1) a public space near the estuary; 2) Schools with "little teachers" and "big teachers"; 3) Pirate Academy for training the coast guards; 4) Where-the-Water-Goes office that manages water distribution, quantity, and price in the city; 5) Pink Powder manufacturing house that produces pink detergent powder to clean the sea; and 6) Time-telling church for residents to pray for a healthy ocean.
Masayá City reveals a critical imaginary of the ocean as a central living space. Living in and with the ocean is an ongoing and evolving process, subject to the complexities and limitations of human experience. Oceanic imaginaries of children also speak of both the water-related lived realities and aspirational visions of children. I posit that children are not mere passive observers of the ocean inherent in everyday urban spaces, but rather hold a distinct and significant perspective of their environments. Ultimately, this piece hopes to spark conversations on the role of creative methodologies to assist discussions on the unfixity of oceanic living and to acknowledge children's perspectives of critical geographical scholarship on the uncontained and uncontainable ocean.