Urban Hub Team at Save the Children International, October 31, 2023, 8 min
Over 1 billion people – including close to 500 million children – live in slums and informal settlements, mostly in cities in Africa, Asia and Latin America. In 2023, the UN-Habitat Assembly approved a historic new Global Action Plan to accelerate transforming these informal settlements and slums. This plan aligns with Sustainable Development Goal 11 Read more →
Cities4Children, June 13, 2023, 9 min
In dense, unplanned, and disadvantaged urban areas like slums and informal settlements, safe places and facilities where children can come together to learn, play, and access resources can be crucial for their health, development and wellbeing. In this blog, we share three types of facilities that deliver much-needed integrated services for children, young people and Read more →
Rob Hughes, Geoffrey Mboya and Elizabeth Kimani, May 2, 2023, 8 min
We have an understandable tendency to put things, people, and issues into boxes. One example of this has been how we’ve historically talked about environmental health separately from child health. For example, separating environmental health departments from those looking at maternal and child health (including at the World Health Organization, no less). But on a Read more →
Cities4Children, February 7, 2023, 7 min
The Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI) collaborates with local community groups to transform underutilized risk-prone spaces in Kibera into a resilient and productive network of public spaces. This network of public spaces – comprising toilets, multipurpose halls, micro-enterprises, laundry facilities, play spaces, vegetable gardens, and schools – builds physical, social and economic resilience in informal communities Read more →
David Satterthwaite, October 31, 2022, 9 min
In the latest from our Ask an Expert series, we sit down with David Satterthwaite to hear more about his vast years of experience in the urban and environment space. David’s impressive research and writing has been cited more than 32,000 times. We would love to hear about your journey into urban planning and poverty Read more →
James Clacherty, October 25, 2022, 6 min
Emthonjenis are open-air learning spaces located around communal water taps in informal settlements in Cape Town, South Africa. They offer a safe space for children to access out-of-centre Early Childhood Development (ECD) services. We interviewed Phethang Mabeba, the ECD lead from Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading (VPUU), to learn more about their model for combining Read more →
Cities4Children , January 25, 2022, 8 min
We may see a house as just that: a shelter and a space to call home. But what if that house is inadequate? If the house can’t be kept clean or it’s situated along a polluted, dusty road? What if it’s not safe, and even when they close the door, its residents can’t relax? What Read more →
Sheridan Bartlett and Cecilia Tacoli , January 11, 2022, 5 min
After decades of decline, global hunger and malnutrition are increasing. While on average urban children tend to fare better than rural children, one in three stunted children lives in the city. [bctt tweet=”In addition, rates of malnutrition are especially high among the urban poor, who must often face impediments to food security. ” username=”cities4children”] While obesity Read more →
Anupama Nallari, September 17, 2021, 13 min
Despite being the ‘greenest’, children in slums and informal settlements have little access to the safe green spaces which are vital to their well-being, health and development. In this blog I ask, how can cities better connect these communities to national and city-level urban green investments and support grassroots greening initiatives? Why are children in Read more →
Anupama Nallari, August 6, 2021, 13 min
We often look at what’s wrong in slums and informal settlements. Here, I draw attention instead to one of their assets: the common space outside people’s homes. I explore its importance for children’s play and development, while unpacking the fluidity and changing nature of these spaces. And as increasing competition for their use leaves less Read more →
Anupama Nallari, July 14, 2021, 11 min
Can competition between cities enable them to perform better? And if yes, for whom and in what ways? Several national and international city awards have mushroomed over the years. These recognise and reward good governance practices in cities around sustainability, mobility and transport, urban design and liveability. Few awards, however, have a specific focus on Read more →
Anupama Nallari, May 28, 2021, 12 min
For millions of women and families living in poor urban areas, the lack of access to childcare services can be devastating. It can lead to lost incomes, higher caregiving burdens and psychological stress – and it affects the quality of care that children receive. Here, Anupama Nallari outlines why affordable, quality and proximate childcare services Read more →
