Cities4Children Blog

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

Putting children and families at the heart of cycling programmes in Latin American cities

BYCS COP27
Climate

Lucas Snaije, November 8, 2022, 7 min

Cycling supports climate-friendly cities and the well-being of children and families in many ways, from improving air quality and health to increasing road safety. In the run-up to COP27, Lucas Snaije of BYCS, an Amsterdam-based global NGO supporting community-led urban change through cycling, discusses how programmes to support uptake in Latin America offer strong evidence Read more →

Ask an Expert Omnia El Omrani – “We want to amplify youth-led climate solutions so youth can attract strategic partners to scale up their work.”

Ask an expert Omnia youth cop27 climate change
ClimateAsk An Expert

Cities4Children, November 3, 2022, 8 min

In the lead up to this year’s 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Egypt, we spoke with Omnia El Omrani, the official Youth Envoy for COP27. Youth across the world play a tremendous role in energising and elevating the climate movement. Here, Omnia explains her role as Youth Envoy and how children and youth Read more →

Ask an Expert: David Satterthwaite – “I’d invite politicians and aid agency staff to walk with SDI affiliates through slums”

Informal SettlementsAsk An Expert

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 →

Urban upgrading supports early childhood care spaces in informal settlements

Urban upgrading supports early childhood care spaces in informal settlements cover
Early childhoodIdeas4Action

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 →

Rethinking children’s participation: the underappreciated role of adult catalysts

Tim Gill child participation Adult Catalist blog
Child ParticipationIdeas4Action

Tim Gill, October 11, 2022, 6 min

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 children’s views and needs have a key role in building ambitious programmes.   Whenever children pretty much anywhere in the world are asked what they like and dislike about where they Read more →

Lessons from more than 1000 school streets

FIA Lessons from more than 1000 school streets
MobilityIdeas4Action

Richard Clarke, September 28, 2022, 10 min

‘Nothing seems to change until suddenly it does,’ writes Duncan Green in his book How Change Happens. The exponential growth of school streets over the past five years powerfully illustrates how urban change can sometimes be non-linear and transformational. What are school streets? School streets are vehicle-free areas outside schools (or vehicles have severely restricted access). Read more →

More than just playgrounds: four ways to improve neighbourhoods for the very young

More than just playgrounds blog cover WRI India
Early childhoodIdeas4Action

Kunal Kumar, Rushda Majeed, and Sree Kumar Kumaraswamy, September 13, 2022, 6 min

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 →

Ask an Expert: Sudeshna Chatterjee – “We need to invest in inclusive planning processes before jumping to solutions”

Ask an Expert Sudeshna Chatterjee
Inclusive Urban PlanningAsk An Expert

Sudeshna Chatterjee, September 6, 2022, 13 min

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 children’s environments? I grew up in Kolkata in India, in a neighbourhood with Read more →

Conversations: Open Streets for people

Open Streets Ciclovia Bogota Blog
Urban PlanningConversations about Cities

Cities4Children, August 16, 2022, 8 min

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 – Public Health Benefits where he and Dr. Olga L. Sarmiento addressed some Read more →

No time to lose: how youth in informal settlements in Bangladesh and Kenya are enabling local action on climate adaptation

Planting flowers in the Pocket Park. Credit: Hope Raisers
Youth

Cities Alliance, August 2, 2022, 6 min

A recent landmark global survey of young people (aged 16–25) revealed widespread anxiety, anger and frustration over the looming catastrophe of climate change and the longstanding failures of governments to take meaningful action. In the Bay of Bengal and the Greater Horn of Africa, where the impacts of climate change are intensifying, young people are Read more →

Where to find us at this year’s World Urban Forum 2022?

Cities4Children at World Urban Forum blog
Uncategorized

Cities4Children , June 23, 2022, 9 min

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 now is one of the world’s most important conferences on cities in the world. Read more →

Three projects to promote cycling in cities

ParticipationIdeas4Action

Eleanor Ross, June 3, 2022, 4 min

Swapping the car for a bike can work wonders for children and their caregivers, by making the city safer, more accessible and reducing emissions. Making our cities more cycle-able for children means making them more accessible for everyone.  The World Health Organization estimates that well over two-thirds of adolescents aren’t active enough, and believe a Read more →