Cities for Children: An Overview of Relevant Issues

Author(s): Sheridan Bartlett, David Satterthwaite, Sarah Sabry

Language: English

Child poverty and the violation of children’s rights are increasingly urban phenomena. An estimated billion people live in overcrowded, inadequate housing without basic services or secure tenure. More than a third are children and adolescents, living in conditions that challenge their rights, wellbeing, and long-term prospects. Yet urban children have surprisingly few global champions, and can often be overlooked in more general agendas. This briefing provides an introduction to the status of children in urban areas, focusing on the most marginalised and deprived children and the range of issues they face, including the impacts of migration, poverty, hunger, conflict, disease and vulnerability to disaster. But it also highlights the opportunities to manage urbanisation better so that children and adolescents in cities can survive, learn, contribute and thrive.

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This paper is the first in the Research Series: Cities for Children and Youth.

The Research Series: Cities for Children and Youth is published by the Global Alliance – Cities 4 Children. This series will include publications reflecting on a range of issues faced by urban children and youth and will shed light on promising initiatives and practices for sustained change. The series aims to inspire action, add to knowledge, improve program/project design and advocate for children’s and young people’s rights in the urban agenda. It is aimed at practitioners, policy makers, government officials, researchers and advocates for better cities for children and youth and will include a range of publications:

• Evidence to action briefs: These will be short research summaries about different topics that are important to address when thinking about child rights and the well-being of children and young people in urban contexts.
• Case studies of success from different urban contexts to inspire change and action
• Country/city reports about the situation of children in urban areas
• Practical tools to work with children and young people to encourage their participation, better understand their needs and support their contributions in the urban context.
• If you would like to contribute to this series please contact us here.