Child in the City World Conference 2023 – Day 2
The second day of our flagship World Conference delivered yet another stellar line-up of child and urban–focused experts.
We are very proud of the fact that you have travelled far and wide to be with this year in Brussels, with countries including France, Ireland, the USA, Sweden, Japan and Spain to name but a few represented.
Tuesday’s opening keynote was from Natalie Davet, a doctoral student in the Department of Education, Communication and Learning.
In her presentation, Breaking the Intergenerational Silence: a Step Forward on Building Intergenerational Cohesion, Natalie examined how we, as a society, can and should be creating spaces where everyone feels it is for them.
France, Ireland, the USA, Sweden, Japan and Spain are among those represented
Her work is based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork, combined with policy analysis, and focuses on how intergenerational ambitions ‘run the risk of reinforcing monogenerational divisions, if not considered and dealt with as a comprehensive political and social concern’.
After the morning’s round of parallel ‘break out’ sessions, the second keynote was from Dr Fatima Zibouh (above), an expert analyst on diversity, inclusion and discrimination.
Focusing on the topic of ‘Building on young people-friendly urban space’, she posed the question: How to mobilize the young people in all their diversity? More than 50 youth organisations in Brussels, plus the key intermediate actors and informal & underground stakeholders, she said, were all part of the multidisciplinary approach.
The day also saw once again a number of diverse parallel presentations, including:
- ‘Snow-Friendly City’ – by Maria Soklova & Anastasia Yurkevitch
- Inclusive Cycling Infrastructure for Children and Caregivers – by Allison Phillips, Active Mobility Planner
- ‘Jong Wegweters’ (or ‘Young Trailblazers’) by Sabine Miedema, Kind & Samenleving
- Healing from tragedy: a toolkit for and by young people – by Maddie Frank, Growing Up Boulder
The afternoon session was then given over to our diverse field trips (above), which allowed delegates to get out into the different and diverse suburbs of Brussels, to see some of the amazing work being done on behalf of children. Click here for more information.
Follow the conference via our social media channels, and contribute using the hashtag #citcbrussels2023
