This year the first-ever Child Friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI) Inspire Awards will take place. UNICEF has created these awards to...UNICEF launches awards for Child Friendly Cities Initiatives
Play without risk is like a hotdog without mustard. It’s better than nothing but so much tastier when the two...Risk is an essential ingredient in children’s play
In June about 400 placemakers met in Valencia for Placemaking Week Europe 2019. Placemaking Week Europe is Europe’s biggest conference and...Sustainability 3.0 – i.e. what is placemaking
Child poverty is at a 20-year high – but in one English community, children are intervening
There are 200,000 children living in absolute poverty across the UK, according to the latest report by the Child Poverty Action Group. This means that 200,000 children live in households which don’t make the minimum...Read more
Difference between playgrounds and natural play spaces for school
There is not much a difference between playgrounds and play spaces. Rather one must develop an eye for precision in order to depict the differences between the two. A playground is a place especially designed...Read more
Birmingham city to pilot car free school streets
In September the Birmingham City Council will ban vehicles from roads that surround six schools. The roads will be closed for about an hour at the start and end of each school day. The goal...Read more
Children who play sports are happier, study finds
Children who are members of a sports club and exercise regularly are happier, healthier and are better able to get along with other children than children who exercise little or not at all. It does...Read more
A comprehensive book on building child-friendly cities
By 2030, an estimated six out of every ten people living in cities will be under the age of 18. That is, the majority of city residents will be children and youth. Despite this surprising statistic, even...Read more
How Bogotá is harnessing leadership to redefine road safety and save lives
From May 6-12 2019, the United Nations celebrated the fifth iteration of its Global Road Safety Week with the theme of leadership. The topic highlights the role that elected leaders have in enforcing and implementing...Read more
City temperatures and city economics, a hidden relationship between sun and wind and profits
Urban design undoubtedly influences the urban economy. A simple thing like designing an area to make it more walkable can boost local business profits. This can also increase real estate value, create more and better...Read more
Introducing and sustaining learning landscapes in urban environments
Early childhood is a critical stage for healthy brain development. While good public policy and public health have important roles to play in improving outcomes, architect Itai Palti, director of Studio Hume and designer of...Read more
A design competition that’s putting a new spin on parking
Spin and Better Block Foundation are calling on designers, urbanists and anyone who cares about safe and livable streets, to submit ideas for a new generation of multimodal parklets. Winning projects will be rolled out...Read more
Schoolchildren helped redesign a city to cut air pollution and climate warming
Air pollution has a particularly damaging effect on children. They’re still growing and breathe faster than adults do. They also live closer to the ground, where the most polluting gases from vehicles accumulate. Pollution from...Read more
What family-friendly policies mean for children
A lengthy study from Unicef argues children get a better start in life and parents are more able to find the right balance between work and private life in countries that have family-friendly policies. Yet even...Read more