Cities4Children Blog

This is our platform for sharing insights, ideas for actions, conversations and innovations that make cities better for children and young people.

Youth-led climate action in informal settlements

Youth-led climate action in informal settlements
YouthIdeas4Action

Mara Forbes, October 29, 2024, 5 min

Cities Alliance and Slum Dwellers International (SDI) , with financial support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), support youth-led climate action in informal settlements across 16 countries as part of the Building Resilience in Informal Settlements Programme. Informal settlements are home to some of the fastest-growing populations in the world, where over one billion people Read more →

Where to find Cities4Children at the World Urban Forum 2024?

Urban IssuesConversations about Cities

Urban Hub Team at Save the Children International, October 24, 2024, 7 min

Where to find Cities4Children at World Urban Forum 2024? The World Urban Forum (WUF) was established in 2001 by the United Nations to examine one of the most pressing challenges facing the world today: rapid urbanisation and its impact on communities, cities, economies, climate change and policies. The WUF is the premier global conference on Read more →

11 actions to promote healthy cities for children

Child HealthIdeas4Action

Urban Hub Team at Save the Children International, October 1, 2024, 10 min

Pollution, heat stress, hunger and poverty are increasing in rapidly urbanising cities and towns in low-and middle-income countries, posing severe health risks to millions of children, particularly those living in slums and informal settlements. This blog identifies 11 actions that governments and other relevant stakeholders can take to promote healthy cities for all children.  According Read more →

Reimagining cities for young children in India: seven key strategies

Reimagining cities for young children in India
Local GovernanceIdeas4Action

Sree Kumar Kumaraswamy, Madhura Kulkarni and Chaitali Patil, July 9, 2024, 9 min

This blog describes how the innovative Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge (NNC) is promoting healthy early childhood development across 10 cities in India. It outlines seven key urban governance strategies for working with city governments that can strengthen the planning and management of cities to create inclusive and child-friendly spaces for young children and their caregivers. With Read more →

Four examples of supporting children’s play in low-income urban neighbourhoods

International Day of Play Blog
PlayIdeas4Action

Sudeshna Chatterjee, June 11, 2024, 11 min

The International Day of Play (IDOP) on June 11th is a unifying global moment to celebrate the power of play for all children everywhere. In this first blog of a 3-part blog series, Sudeshna Chatterjee describes the importance of play for children and demonstrates how local governments, urban practitioners, NGOs and communities can collaborate to Read more →

Bicycle Mayors champion cycling-friendly and inclusive public spaces

BYCS blog cover
Inclusive MobilityPublic Space for Children

Yichen Wang, June 3, 2024, 6 min

It’s World Bicycle Day and time to celebrate pedal power! BYCS is expanding its Bicycle Mayor Network to foster more cycling-friendly cities worldwide. In this blog, Yichen Wang describes inspiring initiatives led by Bicycle Mayors worldwide, promoting cycling and inclusive public spaces. Why cycling? Cycling is one of the most inclusive, sustainable, and affordable modes Read more →

Making school streets safer for children

Road Safety

Global Designing Cities Initiative, May 28, 2024, 4 min

The Global Designing Cities Initiative (GDCI)  is expanding its Streets for Kids program to more cities worldwide. This blog features their work in Istanbul, León, and Lima. It showcases how low-cost, relatively quick, and creative solutions can make streets safer for children and foster social life. City streets in low-and middle-income countries are increasingly unsafe, Read more →

Lusaka, Zambia is making roads safer for children

Road SafetyIdeas4Action

Urban Hub Team at Save the Children International, May 7, 2024, 5 min

It’s Road Safety Week. We’re featuring Lusaka, Zambia, winner of the 2023 Vision Zero for Youth Award, and the impressive actions taken by the city to improve road safety for children since 2017. Road traffic crashes are a leading cause of death and injury for children and youth According to the World Health Organization, road Read more →

Catalytic public spaces: UN-Habitat’s Global Public Space Programme

Catalytic public spaces blog
Public SpaceIdeas4Action

Urban Hub Team at Save the Children International, April 9, 2024, 7 min

The third blog in our ‘Public Space for Children’ series provides an overview of UN-Habitat’s ongoing 12-year Global Public Space Programme (GPSP) with a focus on interventions, tools and guidance that make public spaces better for children. In case you missed them, the first blog of the series spotlights public space interventions by our member Read more →

Her City: Empowering girls to shape cities Her way

Urban SafetyIdeas4Action

Urban Hub Team at Save the Children International, March 8, 2024, 8 min

What can you do to make cities places where girls and young women feel safe, valued, comfortable, empowered and experience equitable access to the city? Read our 2nd blog in the Public Space for Children blog series to learn more. In case you missed it, the first blog of the series spotlights public space interventions Read more →

Three pathways towards child-friendly cities

Tim Gill blog - GDCI
Inclusive Urban PlanningIdeas4Action

Tim Gill, February 20, 2024, 9 min

With growing worldwide interest in making cities more child-friendly, what approaches can municipalities take? Tim Gill sets out three models for local governments and explores the pros and cons of each. Child-friendly urban planning and design means taking children’s needs and wishes seriously when building or changing neighbourhoods, especially their public realm. Drawing on ideas Read more →

3 courses to kickstart your learning towards Cities for Children in 2024

Inclusive Urban PlanningIdeas4Action

Urban Hub Team at Save the Children International, January 24, 2024, 6 min

Are you an activist, built-environment practitioner, caregiver, or city official, who wants to improve your city or neighbourhood for children? It’s a new year – how about starting it off by doing a course on making cities safer, cleaner and greener for children. In this article we feature three online open access courses that introduce Read more →