Co-creating space to support young people’s rights
A practice-led research project to include young people in the creation of a public space in Wrexham town centre, North Wales, demonstrates their capacity to participate in the design process and to provide ideas to inform town planning. Research undertaken in Wrexham, North Wales, in response...Read more
Inspiring young place-makers
Launched on 27 April at the national Place Alliance Big Meet 7 at UCL London, Generation Place demonstrates the importance of educating young people about place and the built environment. Nurturing the UK’s future professionals and citizens, the...Read more
Adrift in the city without a map
For the child living with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), the urban landscape can be an alienating, frightening environment. Keith McAllister and Neil Galway of Queen’s University, Belfast, argue that planners and architects must rise to...Read more
New Child in the City seminar series to launch in Rotterdam this June
The Child in the City partnership has announced a new International Seminar series, focusing on different specific aspects of the child friendly city agenda, with the first two-day event, in Rotterdam on 19-20 June, to...Read more
PlayStation unplugged: nature play in the German capital
A key challenge for the child-friendly city is how to develop land for housing in a way that also creates and maintains the green and open spaces that are so necessary for children’s play, and...Read more
How a small town in Germany became a model for the ‘Playable City’.
The concept of the ‘playable city’ is essentially a simple one: join up the places that children want to access, with safe, attractive pathways animated with playful affordances – and design this network with the fullest engagement of the children...Read more
Taming king car (part 1)
Traffic continues to be the major practical barrier to children’s freedom to roam and enjoy the public spaces of their neighbourhoods, towns and cities. In this, the first of a three-part article, Adrian Voce considers...Read more
Bringing cities alive for children
The big UK-based planning and design consultants, Arup held a specialist workshop on 15 February on the theme of child-friendly cities. Adrian Voce reports. An invited group of around 50 professionals including planners, architects, landscape architects...Read more
How the private sector is helping make Vancouver a family friendly city
In her short series of blogs, Cities for Families, Canadian urbanist Jillian Glover showcases how local governments, non-profits and the private sector are working to create a family friendly city in Vancouver. This third instalment of...Read more
Age diversity for social cohesion
Creating public space that encourages social integration has never been more important. Here, Samuel Williams of planning specialists Arup, explains why child-friendly cities must adopt inter-generational design principles. ‘Designing cities for all’ is easy to say but if...Read more
Why are Dutch children the world’s happiest?
Following UNICEF’s (2013) report of children’s wellbeing indicators for the world’s richest nations placed the Netherlands at the top of the list, a new book by two immigrant mothers explores what it is about growing...Read more
Finding space for children in Istanbul’s new urban landscapes
Istanbul’s children are being crowded out by the rapid transformation of the city’s public realm. Bahar Aksel, Assistant Professor at the Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts in Turkey makes the case for a fresh...Read more
Room for Ghent: planning the spatial future of an historic city
The host city for Child in the City 2016 has embraced the diverse challenges of planning its spatial future by drawing upon the ‘situational expertise’ of its most important stakeholders – the citizens themselves. including children and...Read more
Toronto study explores high density family housing
In this second part of her short series, Cities for Children and Families, the Canadian urbanist, Jillian Glover looks at how innovative housing design concepts are making downtown living more family-friendly than ever before. There are many...Read more