It’s OK to play: How ‘play theory’ can revitalise U.S. education
City planners are recognising that play and learning are intertwined and turning public spaces into opportunities for active learning. When we’re young, playing and learning are inseparable. Simple games like peekaboo and hide-and-seek help us learn...Read more
Being Human in Digital Cities?
Myria Georgiou and Sindhoora Pemmaraju of the London School of Economics consider how digital cities change what it means to be human, and show how Myria Georgiou’s new book Being Human in Digital Cities addresses this question in relation...Read more
Unlocking tomorrow: the intersection of digital literacy, wellbeing and children’s rights
To thrive in the ever-evolving digital environment children and young people must gain digital literacy. But what difference does digital literacy make to children’s wellbeing and rights? Over the past three years, ySKILLS researchers have...Read more
How data and integrated planning approaches can help cities fight air pollution
Poor air quality remains one of the greatest threats to the health and wellbeing of children and young people. We hear from Urban Shift, a UN-led programme, about how cities in Latin America are taking...Read more
A Global Action Plan to transform slums and help children thrive was approved: but where is the money?
Over one billion people – including close to 500 million children – live in slums and informal settlements, mostly in cities in Africa, Asia and Latin America. In 2023, the UN-Habitat Assembly approved a historic...Read more
UNICEF: Little changemakers boost vaccination efforts in Yemen
Young volunteers in Yemen are helping to counter outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, reports UNICEF.Read more
Making public spaces better for children: a new blog series
Public spaces are crucial for children’s holistic development and wellbeing. A new blog series showcases how public spaces can be made better for children. Using global examples from Cities4Children members and other initiatives, the aim...Read more
European Environment Agency: what are national authorities doing to improve air quality?
One of the biggest threats facing children in cities across the world is air quality. It is, in some cases, quite literally killing them. It’s a situation that the European Environment Agency (EEA) is intensely...Read more
Putting local communities at the center of public space making in informal settlements
The Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI) collaborates with local community groups to transform underutilized risk-prone spaces in Kibera into a resilient and productive network of public spaces. This network of public spaces – comprising toilets, multipurpose...Read more
Children’s rights online: Implementing General Comment 25
In early 2021, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s adopted a General Comment on children’s rights in relation to the digital environment. David Souter, an independent expert on the ‘digital society’ writes...Read more
Six ways to design safer school zones: lessons from Mumbai
As education is the right of every child, so is safe access to schools. As schools in India reopen after nearly two years of online education, it is important to reexamine how children access schools....Read more
Nurturing nature in urban schools for enhanced learning
The fast pace of modern urban living can be mentally and physically draining. Add the strains of a pandemic, and these challenges can multiply.Read more
Washington, USA: Tackle child health inequities by making it safe for kids to bike
As schools around the country prepared for Bike and Roll to School Day, Washington DC is looking to reverse decades of health inequities by making it safe for more kids to bike around their city.Read more
African cities can do more to protect children from climate change
Six in 10 people will be living in cities by 2030. This is concerning. Cities are responsible for over 70 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Yet cities can also do a lot to...Read more