As cities proceed to develop, protected public areas for kids to play, transfer and join are shrinking. A brand new international information launched immediately by the World Well being Group (WHO), UNICEF and UN-Habitat calls on governments and metropolis leaders to place kids on the centre of city design, arguing that public areas are important to kids’s well being, growth and well-being. The information supplies sensible, evidence-informed steering to assist cities create streets, parks and public locations which can be safer, extra inclusive and extra resilient, whereas advancing fairness, local weather motion and more healthy city residing for all.
Globally, solely 44% of city residents dwell close to an open public house, and that determine drops to 30% amongst city residents in low- and middle-income nations. Tens of millions of kids residing in cities and cities nonetheless lack entry to public areas. Air pollution, site visitors, overcrowding and climate-related hazards more and more prohibit kids’s freedom to maneuver, play and thrive. Properly-designed public areas allow kids to maneuver, play, be taught and interact with nature safely.
“Entry to protected, inclusive public house is instantly linked to kids’s well being, growth, studying and social ties and is a baby’s proper”, notes Dr Etienne Krug, Director of the WHO Division for Well being Determinants, Promotion and Prevention.
The Information to creating city public SPACES for kids seeks to assist governments, city planners and companions create and enhance protected, inclusive and child-friendly public areas. The doc attracts on international proof, knowledgeable enter, consultations with kids and metropolis examples from numerous contexts.
“This information reveals how child-centred city areas can fulfill the proper to play and speed up progress towards protected, accessible public areas for everybody by 2030”, stated Dr Nathalie Roebbel, Technical Lead City Well being, WHO Division for Well being Determinants, Promotion and Prevention.
SPACES supplies a sensible framework based mostly on six rules – Security, Play, Entry, Baby Well being, Fairness and Sustainability and presents steering and associated instruments for planning, designing and managing public areas.
The information’s calls to motion embody:
scale back security dangers by traffic-calming measures, protected crossings, well-lit pathways, and safe routes to colleges, parks and play areas;embed play alternatives throughout all forms of public areas – together with streets, courtyards, neighbourhood areas and public amenities;prioritize entry the place want is biggest, utilizing mapping and spatial assessments to information planning and funding in low-income, high-density and casual settlements;meet environmental and well being requirements by making certain clear air, shade, cooling, protected supplies, correct waste administration and safety from climate-related hazards;promote fairness and inclusion by common design, neighborhood participation, and removing of social, gender and bodily boundaries that restrict kids’s entry; andstrengthen sustainability and resilience by increasing inexperienced and blue infrastructure, revitalizing underused land, and integrating child-friendly public areas into local weather and resilience methods.
Over 55% of the world’s inhabitants dwell in city areas – a proportion that’s anticipated to extend to 68% by 2050. As most future city development will happen in growing nations, the world immediately has a singular alternative to information city growth tendencies in a method that protects and promotes well being.
