Defunctland: Kid Cities
In this episode, Kevin explores the history of kid cities, a series of fake miniature towns in which children can role-play as adults. Why do these exist, and who is behind them?
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0:00 – Part 1: La Ciudad De Los Niños
13:03 – Part 2: Wannado City
24:02 – Part 3: Similar Projects
35:20 – Part 4: Are You Having Fun?
48:46 – Part 5: Corporate Sponsors
59:34 – Part 6: The Great Recession
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@happyhaunt6659
December 19, 2025 at 5:56 pm
I went to a version of these at a children's museum and pretended to be a pet dog I didn't have a job or participate meaningfully at all I just crawled around and barked
@sparklemiss123
December 19, 2025 at 5:56 pm
i went to JA biztown!! i was the mayor! at my school it was really lame, the teachers basically assigned every job to students… which meant that if you were a janitor, everyone knew you made bad grades. but, as the mayor, i was essentially labeled supernerd!
@kaylawiltfong5439
December 19, 2025 at 5:56 pm
I had to sell ads for the radio station at Exchange City. The boutique sent the cops after me because I accidently tore a sign they taped to the floor when I was hitting my beat 😭
@clmirsh
December 19, 2025 at 5:56 pm
31:30 remembering this vividly, but not perfectly.
As a kid in Tampa in the early 2000's , our class went to enterprise village once as a field trip . Everyone got random job cards and a budget to go along with it , I earned the garbage man job. Being hit with these bad luck cards while having a no money job, that trip fucking sucked
@quincystone6226
December 19, 2025 at 5:56 pm
Never in my wildest dreams did I ever expect to hear about some ones kids getting "spirit pilled"
@ItsPustulioYo
December 19, 2025 at 5:56 pm
25:13 My favorite children's museum is the Muncie Children's Museum in Muncie, Indiana.
Muncie is the hometown of Jim Davis, the creator of Garfield, and well over half of the museum is dedicated to Garfield and Friends, or at least it was when I last went.
Forget about attractions aimed exclusively at children, adult fans of Garfield would get an absolute kick out of the museum!
@tienouttatien8942
December 19, 2025 at 5:56 pm
Junior Achievement was a curriculum for special education kids, not an organization devoted to financial education. OOF
@lovelyraincoat475
December 19, 2025 at 5:56 pm
I remember going, but everyone got bored and stopped doing their jobs by the end, so it was just chaos. If I remember right, I just tried to run the whole store I worked at while everyone took advantage of the chaos :,) I wish I'd been a criminal
@joonsantini
December 19, 2025 at 5:56 pm
“She’ll never become a doctor” I’m dead!!
@DuyNgo-m4p
December 19, 2025 at 5:56 pm
"I can't afford to" what a cruelty true…
@amyu3876
December 19, 2025 at 5:56 pm
I went to the KC exchange city as a part of a third grade (not fifth, for some reason) junior achievement program in 2012 or 2013. It wasn’t called Biztown at that point and it was still in the KC underground, but we did do all of the JA stuff. Our school partnered with local entrepreneurs as part of the JA lessons prior to our visit. I was one of the employees at the craft shop.
@riley-iz_rad7450
December 19, 2025 at 5:56 pm
28:48 don’t worry, I also missed out on this experience in school, due to moving to the new school the day after they went 🙁
@Gelumni
December 19, 2025 at 5:56 pm
I remember wannado city, it was awesome
@FioreFire
December 19, 2025 at 5:56 pm
I used to love fake-selling the fake-vegetables that I fake-farmed by myself at the Children's Museum…
@rexevans5477
December 19, 2025 at 5:56 pm
48:18
@ethancooper1056
December 19, 2025 at 5:56 pm
"this massive commercial hell scape is going to be our largest tourist attraction!" Yep, sounds like Florida to me
@rexevans5477
December 19, 2025 at 5:56 pm
30:54
@LavenderTownsGhost
December 19, 2025 at 5:56 pm
I remember going to Wannado a few times as a kid and LOVING it. I remember one specific time I was a police officer and I took it way to seriously. I was chasing down kids that were running and giving them tickets, and I specifically remember staking out the fair area because I had seen a kid running in there and was going to get him when he came out. My radio also ran out of batteries so I missed the call that our shift was over, so I was 'on patrol' way longer that I was supposed to xD
I also went to a JA BizTown summer camp (that I just remember calling JA BizCamp) for a few years before it got shut down, I think with our local one one guy cut and run with all the money.
@sirloinofice
December 19, 2025 at 5:56 pm
18:18 You called it what!?!
@Rainok
December 19, 2025 at 5:56 pm
"As a child I yerned for the mines" as a themepark
@rexevans5477
December 19, 2025 at 5:56 pm
7:16
@XxMarkTheSharkxX
December 19, 2025 at 5:56 pm
Capitalism indoctrination centers is crazy
@maniacalcoast2742
December 19, 2025 at 5:56 pm
Divercity from Colombia was HUGE airplane as a pilot even working an actual store with food
@KrankuSama
December 19, 2025 at 5:56 pm
Went from 'fun kids play area :)' to 'a facsimile of the mundane alienation of late stage capitalism' real fuckin quick.
@ethanrocket430
December 19, 2025 at 5:56 pm
41:02 check the pulse
@erinf1915
December 19, 2025 at 5:56 pm
i was the deputy major in 5th grade when we went to JA Biztown. I remember freaking tf out when finding out the whole job was to write and deliver a speech at the end of the day in front of the entire school (town). i was so stressed that I didn’t even get a chance to enjoy myself LMFAO
@Akim86Hassam
December 19, 2025 at 5:56 pm
i actually went to kidzania Monterrey location once as a child it was nice
@chaiges2636
December 19, 2025 at 5:56 pm
I was the radio DJ at a JA Biztown in 5th grade, none of the music they had for me to play was censored 😭
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