My last post argued that municipal champions have a crucial role in making neighbourhoods more child-friendly. This post gives four examples of how civil society agencies, alliances and partnerships â especially those at national, regional and local levels – can build momentum and action. It draws on over a quarter of a century of personal Read more â
Urban Planning
In our latest Ask an Expert Series blog, we speak with Cecilia Vaca Jones. Cecilia has over 20 years of experience leading public and private-sector organisations to promote and enable child-responsive policies and programmes at national and global levels. In this interview, Cecilia shares her insights on leading the Bernard van Leer Foundation from 2019 Read more â
In his latest blog Tim Gill describes why adult catalysts are necessary for enabling child-friendly urban environments and argues that municipal champions who understand childrenâs views and needs have a key role in building ambitious programmes. Â Whenever children pretty much anywhere in the world are asked what they like and dislike about where they Read more â
Child-centric urban planning is about more than just building playgrounds. Here, Kunal Kumar, Rushda Majeed and Sree Kumar Kumaraswamy outline four ways to make neighbourhoods better for very young children, from creating dedicated spaces for play to improving early childhood care centres. The 10 winning cities of the Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge were announced by the Read more â
In our latest from our Ask an Expert series, we speak with Sudeshna Chatterjee, a globally recognised urban practitioner and researcher about what it takes to enable inclusive, resilient and child-sensitive urbanisation in low-and middle-income countries. Can you describe your journey into childrenâs environments? I grew up in Kolkata in India, in a neighbourhood with Read more â
What are Open Streets? Why are they important for children, vulnerable groups and cities? What are the key ingredients that make Open Streets successful in cities? On 19 April 2022, Gil Peñalosa hosted an online webinar called Open Streets/CiclovĂas: Meeting as Equals â Public Health Benefits where he and Dr. Olga L. Sarmiento addressed some Read more â
My last blog made the case for child-friendly urban planning as a catalyst for healthier, more sustainable cities. It set out a two-dimensional framework highlighting the role of mobility on the one hand, and a wide choice of things to do (crucially including places to play) on the other. This blog looks in more detail Read more â
We speak to Gil Penalosa, founder and chair of 8 80 Cities. After many years running the organisation as Executive Director, he now serves as Chair of the Board of Directors. We speak to him about the impact city parks can have on the urban environment as part of our Ask an Expert series. Letâs Read more â
In todayâs urbanising world, we are rapidly losing the green spaces that are so vital to our health and well-being. Here, I share some especially compelling research on the benefits of these spaces and the costs of doing without them, particularly for children. These findings date back to the mid-1990s. Yet they continue to provide Read more â