A brand new world information launched by the World Well being Group, UNICEF, and UN-Habitat calls on governments and metropolis leaders to revamp public areas round kids, arguing that safer, extra inclusive streets, parks, and public locations are important to city well being, fairness, and long-term resilience as cities proceed to increase.
The steering comes as city development accelerates worldwide and public house entry stays uneven. Solely 44% of city residents globally reside close to an open public house, in keeping with WHO information, and that share falls to 30% in low- and middle-income international locations. Youngsters are among the many most affected, going through restrictions linked to visitors, air pollution, overcrowding, and climate-related dangers.
“Entry to protected, inclusive public house is straight linked to kids’s well being, improvement, studying, and social ties and is a toddler’s proper,” says Etienne Krug, Director of the Division for Well being Determinants, Promotion and Prevention, WHO. WHO officers say putting kids on the heart of city planning may also ship broader advantages, together with more healthy mobility patterns, stronger social cohesion, and extra climate-resilient cities.
The Information to Creating City Public Areas for Youngsters gives evidence-informed suggestions for governments, city planners, and native companions. It attracts on world analysis, professional enter, consultations with kids, and case research from cities in several areas. The framework, summarized underneath the acronym SPACES, is constructed round six ideas: security, play, entry, youngster well being, fairness and sustainability. In response to WHO, the method is meant to assist cities combine child-friendly design into current streets, parks, and public services relatively than treating play and security as remoted interventions.
Nathalie Roebbel, Technical Lead of City Well being, WHO, says the information hyperlinks child-centered planning with worldwide improvement targets. She says that well-designed public areas might help cities advance towards common entry to protected and inclusive public areas by 2030 whereas supporting local weather motion and public well being aims.
The information’s calls to motion embody traffic-calming measures, protected crossings, and safe routes to colleges and parks to cut back damage dangers; embedding play alternatives throughout streets, courtyards, and neighborhoods; prioritizing funding in low-income, high-density, and casual settlements; assembly environmental requirements for air high quality, shade, and waste administration; and strengthening resilience by way of inexperienced and blue infrastructure.
The discharge of the information coincides with renewed consideration to city infrastructure and planning in Mexico, the place federal and native authorities have highlighted public house, mobility, and sustainability as coverage priorities. In her first annual report in September, President Claudia Sheinbaum outlined the Nationwide Infrastructure Plan 2025, a MX$811 billion (US$45.4 billion) program geared toward increasing transport networks and bettering city areas. The administration expects the plan to create greater than 260,000 jobs whereas modernizing rail corridors, highways, ports, and airports and supporting city enchancment tasks.
City applications have included community-level investments by way of the City Enchancment Program, which launched over 150 tasks throughout a number of states between October 2024 and June 2025. These initiatives have centered on public areas, sports activities services, markets, and neighborhood rehabilitation, benefiting greater than 1.5 million residents, in keeping with authorities information. Authorities have additionally superior territorial planning instruments and technical requirements meant to information denser and extra coordinated city development.
Public house high quality can be carefully linked to environmental administration, an space the place surveys level to persistent challenges. A current research by the Public Opinion Middle of the College of the Valley of Mexico discovered that day by day waste technology in Mexico exceeds 103,000 metric tons and continues to pressure public infrastructure and concrete environments. Whereas most households report separating waste to some extent, respondents expressed low confidence in enforcement of littering penalties and waste separation guidelines. Public markets, streets, and transport programs have been continuously cited as among the many dirtiest areas, reflecting gaps in upkeep and waste assortment.
Mexico Metropolis has begun to deal with a few of these points by mandating family waste separation beginning in January 2026 and increasing its assortment fleet. Metropolis authorities say the measures are a part of a broader effort to enhance the situation of public areas and improve recycling charges, which stay low relative to complete waste volumes.
Housing coverage additionally shapes entry to public house, notably as cities develop denser. In Mexico, vertical housing has expanded in massive metropolitan areas corresponding to Mexico Metropolis, Monterrey, and Guadalajara, pushed by land shortage, demographic shifts, and demand for proximity to jobs and companies. Actual property analysts say compact improvement can cut back sprawl and strain on infrastructure if paired with sufficient planning and inexperienced house provision, although challenges stay round affordability, allowing, and outdated zoning guidelines.
Examples of built-in, community-oriented public areas are more and more cited as reference factors. In 2024, Mexico Metropolis acquired the World Inexperienced Metropolis Award from the Worldwide Affiliation of Horticultural Producers for the Huerto Roma Verde venture. The initiative, acknowledged for selling inclusive and inexperienced city environments, combines an city backyard with cultural, academic and neighborhood actions and a neighborhood market. Metropolis officers say the venture illustrates how public areas can assist social cohesion whereas incorporating environmental capabilities.
WHO officers say such examples align with the aims of the brand new information, which frames child-friendly design as a cross-cutting funding relatively than a distinct segment coverage. With greater than 55% of the world’s inhabitants already residing in city areas and that determine projected to rise to 68% by 2050, the group stated choices made at the moment will form well being and fairness outcomes for future generations.
As city enlargement continues, the information argues, prioritizing kids within the design and administration of public areas might help cities deal with security, environmental, and social challenges concurrently, whereas bettering on a regular basis city life for all residents.
