Cities urged to think like a child in new urban design guide

The Proximity of Care Design guide, issued by global sustainable development consultancy Arup and the Bernard van Leer Foundation, helps tackle issues from air pollution and proximity to facilities and services, social inclusion, and climate resilience. It draws on research and contributions from global experts, as well as real-life experiences of projects from London, UK, to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil – that have applied the guide’s principles.  

Many cities have reduced space for children and families, with cars pushing them from streets, or narrower walkways and restrictions on public spaces eroding the freedom of children to explore with caregivers and experience nurturing human interactions. 

Those involved in shaping the design of cities often don't consider the needs of children beyond specific areas like playgrounds. The guide urges them to see the whole city as a playground, giving children aged under-five the ideal settings to be safe, healthy, and stimulated. 

By considering their needs, city leaders, planners and developers can make cities more inclusive for everyone – as child-friendly urban planning delivers social and environmental benefits through improved road safety, better access to facilities and services, improved air quality, positive behaviours, and climate resilience. 

The team behind the guide are urging all those shaping cities to look at and experience urban spaces through the eyes of a child to help them see the challenges facing children. Using a specially developed virtual reality headset developed by Arup and the Bernard van Leer Foundation, they can see how a city looks from 95cm – the height of a three-year-old. Actors, real sounds and a traffic system controlled by artificial intelligence show how a child moves through a city, as well as what a child-friendly environment looks like.  

Originally the Proximity of Care Guide was created in 2021 for vulnerable urban areas, such as informal and refugee settlements, now the guide has been expanded, with nine partners worldwide (listed below) testing it in their city to address a particular challenge their children and care givers were facing. These experiences helped form the new guide, that can be applied to benefit young children and caregivers in any neighbourhood or city worldwide.  

Those shaping the urban environment can get inspired by seeing the partners put the guide’s principles into action: 

In Brazil the guide was used to develop a plan to advocate for safer breastfeeding in public space which included stakeholders ranging from mothers themselves to young schoolboys.  

In Uruguay it was used to integrate deaf communities in public spaces by developing stimulation and protection routes between educational institutions, playgrounds and public spaces.  

In Chile the guide’s principles helped transform a heavy-traffic corridor into an integrated street that supports health, learning, behaviour, and wellbeing of the youngest children, their teachers and parents.  

In Peru it helped to shape a child and family friendly masterplan for the improvement of the public, green and play spaces in the Urranaga neighbourhood in Chiclayo.