Rohit Tak and Lekshmy Hirandas, April 5, 2022, 6 min

A good measure of how child-friendly a city is, is how well children can independently play, connect socially, and access schools. After numerous waves of Covid-19, parents across India and the rest of the world, remain concerned about letting their children ride public transport and school buses. This behaviour change can accelerate motor-vehicle dependency for school-related commutes Read more →

Tim Gill, March 29, 2022, 5 min

If current trends continue, the future of humankind is in cities, and urban childhoods are set to become the global norm. Yet, as they grow, few cities work well for their inhabitants. Too many – in high-, middle- and low-income countries – are polluted, car-dominated and inequitable. How might we improve the built form of cities Read more →

Sheridan Bartlett, March 22, 2022, 6 min

The Global Alliance – Cities4Children has recently published an evidence-to-action brief on urban children and WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene). This blog highlights some of the key ways NGOs can support the design and delivery of programmes designed to address WASH provision in urban areas. Well over half of urban children in the global South, Read more →

Cities4Children, March 15, 2022, 6 min

Ahead of this year’s International Day of Happiness, we take a look at what can make cities happy places, and what urban planners and those in power can do to bring more  joy and life to cities. Cities are rarely depicted as happy places. In films, they’re either overcrowded and full of stressed people dodging Read more →

Cities4Children , March 8, 2022, 6 min

This International Women’s Day, the Global Alliance – Cities4Children, asked member organisations about the work they do with women and girls in cities around the world. We also asked them to flag any surprising statistics, critical projects, or issues that they have worked on and which predominantly affected girls. Finally, our partners shared some reports Read more →

Cities4Children , March 1, 2022, 6 min

What if everything we did in our cities had to work for both an eight-year-old, and an eighty-year-old? That’s the premise behind Gil Penalosa’s work, founder and chair of 8 80 Cities, who has worked in many cities worldwide as an urban planner. Every week he invites guests to speak about cities, parks and green Read more →

Cities4Children , February 15, 2022, 8 min

We speak to Tim Gill, the founder of Rethinking Childhood and author of bestselling RIBA book Urban Playground: How Child-Friendly Planning and Design Can Save Cities, about how he thinks children should be able to access cities as part of our Ask an Expert series. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?  I’m Read more →

Cities4Children, February 8, 2022, 7 min

We interviewed Pooja Rai, the co-founder and CEO of Anthill Creations, to ask her about her journey to improve the lives of children through building hundreds of playgrounds across India. “Since starting Anthill Creations seven years ago, I’ve learned that mindsets can be changed simply by showing examples,” says Pooja Rai, co-founder and CEO of Read more →

Cities4Children , February 1, 2022, 5 min

Growing up in a city full of cars can be damaging, and not just physically. It gives the impression that cities with cars are unchangeable, and will always be there. Even among children’s toys, cars are given greater dominance than bikes. Take Lego, for example. Until this year, after a successful campaign started by urban 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 →

Cities 4 Children , January 18, 2022, 6 min

There are plenty of benefits to engaging young people in contests and competitions. They provide space for creativity and for those who rarely have a voice to share personal reflections and knowledge.  But running a contest with input from young people across the world, spanning language and cultural barriers, isn’t always straightforward. Here’s what ICLEI 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 →