June, the month of Children’s Awareness and National Safety is an opportunity to ponder the relationship between children, a vulnerable citizen group, and the city. 

A city provides more than just basic necessities; it encourages development and growth of society and individuals. As such, children can act as drivers of urban transformation and their inclusion can inform the direction of urban development and planning. 

The UN Conference on Human Settlements founded the Child Friendly Cities Initiative (CFC), reasoning that the well being of a child is the most accurate measure of a healthy habitat and good governance.  The initiative indicates several characteristics that Child Friendly Cities must adhere to.  These include enabling children to have access to participate and effect planning decisions in the city, and partake in community and social events. They must also have access to safe drinking water, sanitation, health care, education and green spaces for enjoyment of nature and play. Children must be secure from exploitation and violence, have the right to live in a pollution free environment, and “be an equal citizen of their city with access to every service, regardless of ethnic origin, religion, income, gender or disability.” The CFC Secretariat has also developed a Framework for Action that provides guidelines for local governments and communities to become child friendly. While the CFC also provides Core Indicators for Monitoring Child Well-Being many participating countries have developed their own criteria for CFC. To view CFC initiatives undertaken globally go here.

CFC is often implemented with other child centered projects like Growing Up in Cities, a global endeavor to examine and respond to the needs of children living in urban areas. The program, undertaken by UNESCO involves the collaboration of municipal officials, urban experts and child advocates working with local youth to inform decisions on community development. Growing Up in Cities is aligned with the principals of CFC and UN –Habitat’s Safer Cities Program that builds local government capacity to address urban violence and instability and fosters a culture of prevention.

Is your city a child friendly city? What does your jurisdiction do to include children in the planning process?

An article on the Knowledge Network highlights the City of Lakewood, CO’s use of Box City, an exercise where elementary school students learn the process of planning and designing cities under the guidance of urban professionals by making their own city.  Using such tools and adopting a children friendly approach can foster children’s participation and allow for an effective response to children’s needs and rights as citizens.

Other documents on the Knowledge Network addressing children centered projects and issues include:

• The Built Environment: Designing Communities to promote Physical Activity in Children that discusses the high prevalence of obesity in the US and advocates for a communities designed to encourage physical activity on a daily basis like walking or biking to school.
• Durango, CO Engaging the Youth in Our Community outlines the need and strategy to involve high school students in the daily workings of the community. 
• The Greenville’s Authentic Youth Civic Engagement illustrates the City of Greenville, SC’s approach to enhance participation by creating youth “teams” that identified and recommended opportunities in the city government, schools and neighborhoods where young people can contribute to improve overall service and success.

For more resources visit the Knowledge Network topic page Children and Youth or search in the documents section.