337R_Child-friendly cities and communities: opportunities and challenges (research summary)

Are you interested in the concept of child-friendly cities?

Our summary today works with the article titled Child-friendly cities and communities: opportunities and challenges from 2024, by Rhian Powell, published in the Children’s Geographies journal.

This is a great preparation to our next interview with Alison Watson in episode 338 talking about the need to include the next generation when we talk about the built environment.

Since we are investigating the future of cities, I thought it would be interesting to see what child-friendly cities and communities can mean. This article explores the challenges and opportunities in planning and creating child-friendly cities through interviews with practitioners.

Find the article through this link.

Abstract: With greater numbers of children living in urban areas, increasing attention is being paid to Child-Friendly Cities (CFCs) and their potential for transforming local government decision-making to be more inclusive of the needs and interests of children. This paper draws on interviews with CFC practitioners at both local and national levels in 9 cities across 7 countries, to explore the opportunities and challenges that arise in planning and actualising CFC programmes. The data show CFCs can reshape local government decision-making processes, allowing for greater opportunities for children’s civic participation, through greater parity of children’s interests and voices. However, CFC practitioners also encounter challenges related to uncertain conceptualisations of what makes a city ‘child-friendly’, complex governance structures, lack of political will from external partners and intergenerational tensions. In addition, age-based fragmentation has the potential to further marginalise the interests of children and young people in key policy areas.

Connected episodes you might be interested in:

• No.113R - Radical Collabration: flipping the paradigm on learning
• No.114 - Interview with Kelly Boucher about involving kids into the future

You can find the transcript through ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠th⁠i⁠s link⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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