Often seen as an indicator of good governance and a healthy habitat for all, the welfare of children is closely intertwined with the thriving of their cities. Child-friendly Cities offer a new way of thinking urban space through the prism of the most vulnerable groups, giving them center stage in the realization of their rights. A city fit for children is a city at the forefront of a sustainable and prosperous future. ARISSANDRA EGOROVA
© School sign on an autumn background (Unsplash)
Changing demographics
For almost a century, cities around the world have experienced radical changes in their demographics. Indeed, while in 1950 the urban population represented only 30% of the world’s total, the UN estimates an increase to 70% in 2050, equivalent to almost 7 billion people in cities worldwide.
With almost two-thirds of the population already living in cities, these forecasts warn about the dangers of such growth. With intensifying industrialization and densification, our urban century could well sink even deeper into the existing economic, social, and environmental crises.
But not all is lost! As a result, cities emerge as key actors in the fight for a better tomorrow, tackling crucial challenges inherent to their exponential growth, including heat islands, biodiversity loss and even the loss of human interactions. In view of these issues, the 2030 Agenda committed to leaving no one behind, especially vulnerable layers of the population such as the youth.
In fact, there are more children growing up in cities than ever before. Over one billion children already live in urban areas worldwide, and more than 1.2 billion of 15-24 aged youth. While the size of the youth population is stabilizing, youth migration remains an issue of great importance, as high percentages of young people migrate into towns for better education, employment or fleeing conflict.
Consequently, it is estimated that by 2030, up to 60% of urban dwellers will be under the age of eighteen, making the youth demographic a crucial component in the future of urban development.
But while cities can be stimulating settings for urban childhoods, they can also pose unique threats to their healthy development: in fact, great numbers of children and youth are at risk of urban poverty, environmental pollution, and economic exploitation, among others. As such, the direction a city takes may very well have serious repercussions on the well-being of its youth and the future generations to come.
To thwart this potential outcome, the SDG Goal 11 of the UN Agenda for Sustainable Development highlighted the fundamental need for the development of inclusive, safe, and resilient cities and human settlements for all.
But it was the year 1989 that marked the real turning point for the consideration of children’s rights in cities. First, the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, then less than ten years later, the creation of the first Child-friendly Cities.
The rise of Child-friendly Cities
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) marked a crucial step towards a greater protection of children and youth around the world by realizing and recognizing their rights to a healthy urban development.
It laid the foundation for the development of a meaningful change in our societies’ perception of children, and the empowerment of children’s voices in every step of urban planning.
Investing in our children became an investment for the benefit of the entire society, making of children’s rights in the city an imperative condition for the building of sustainable communities and a more sustainable future. These efforts eventually culminated, in the early 1990s, in the idea of Child-friendly Cities (CFC).
UNICEF’s Child-friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI) was initiated as part of the UN Second Conference on Human Settlements (or Habitat II). The conference took place four years after the 1992 Mayors Defenders of Children Initiative, making of child’s rights and well-being a newfound priority of local urban developments. The Session concluded on a promise – a Plan of Action to build a world fit for children, promoting meaningful participation of children and adolescents in decision-making processes, and recognizing young people as positive agents of change, regardless of age.
UNICEF’s Child-friendly Cities Initiative offers an alternative to a world built by and for adults, by ensuring that decision-making and urban plans are made in the best interests of children, at any level of governance, making a city a caring, inspiring, and inclusive environment for their healthy growth.
It ensures the realization of their rights, as articulated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and is based on its four founding principles:
Non-discrimination (Art.2): a CFC should be friendly and inclusive for all children and condemns any form of discrimination.
Best interests (Art.3): The best interests of the child are to be the primary consideration of CFC at all levels of the government.
Every child’s right to life and best development (Art.6): a CFC should provide an optimal environment for a healthy childhood and development of youth, including the physical, social, and psychological development.
Listening to children and respecting their views (Art.12): a CFC should encourage and promote an active and informed youth participation in the building of Child-friendly Cities.
The founding principles are combined with the CFCI Framework for Action’s long-term objectives, designed to help local communities realize this vision, in the form of a child’s hand: the right to be valued, respected and treated fairly, the right to be heard, the right to social services, the right to be safe, and the right to family life, play and leisure.
Participation is therefore established as a right, recognizing the ability of children and youth to rightfully participate and influence decisions in all matters affecting them directly – which is essential in raising responsible and engaged adult citizens of tomorrow. (picture : UNICEF, 2018).
“A society that cuts itself off from its youth severs its lifeline” - Kofi Annan
Switzerland and the city of Geneva – a Child-Friendly City
This movement has gone from strength to strength: over 40 countries worldwide have joined the initiative, and 155 of the 192 countries that have ratified the CRC have drawn up national action plans to place children's rights at the heart of their local governance systems.
Among those 40 countries, Switzerland joined the initiative in 2004, running under the name “Kinderfreundliche Gemeinde”, “Commune amie des enfants” and “Comune amico dei bambini” in its different linguistic regions. By the start of 2023, 51 municipalities, including the capital city of Bern, have been awarded the title of Child-friendly City by UNICEF Switzerland.
Since 2014, the city of Geneva has been strongly committing to a process of implementing and promoting children’s rights, in line with the CRC, ratified by Switzerland in 1997. Indeed, the city elaborated and carried out a multi-year Action Plan from 2015 to 2020, with more than 60 actions undertaken for children aged 4 to 12 in the three main areas of child’s protection, equality, and participation. With the help of the Centre of Child Rights Studies of Geneva and the International Institute for the Rights of the Child in Sion, the municipality conducted an in-depth assessment of the status quo through detailed surveys and direct consultations with its young participants, the results of which were published in a report. Following this, a new 2022-2026 plan just came into force, planning to reach 250’000 children and youth. As a result of these efforts, in 2018 the municipality was awarded the Child-friendly City label, reconvened in March 2023 for 4 more years.
Thanks to its precise and continuous monitoring, as well as the involvement of a multitude of municipal actors in its execution, the city of Geneva is setting an example for the city-wide implementation of children's rights.
While children should be considered as individual members of the society and not just people-in-the-making, they remain vulnerable, dependent and easily affected by the actions or inactions of our governments, as well as social, environmental, or economic changes. In the light of new demographic trends, it is becoming imperative to consider them as integral members of society, as well as key players in future urban developments. By considering the needs of more vulnerable city dwellers, urban design practice has the potential to develop spaces that are more inclusive and respectful of age-based needs. A child’s healthy development becomes closely intertwined with the healthy development of a city and community as a whole, making of Child-friendly Cities an important strategy to achieving sustainable development.
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