Injecting green spaces in a concrete environment
When I worked as an urban planner at the regional district of Freiburg, I initiated a project, ‘Cour d’école de Marly CitĂ©’. This project was part of a larger project named Freiraum Freiburg and it...Read more
How nature can help promote higher use of play environments
By integrating the living landscape with the built environment, studies show that children reach a higher range of active behaviors, a greater diversity of play opportunities is offered, and the experience becomes more enriching for...Read more
Protecting our thirsty urban trees from more harsh summers
Urban forests are great for keeping our cities cool, but as temperatures go up they need water to survive – and that’s where redirecting storm water to street trees comes in. With increasing heat in the...Read more
Making cities work for every urban-dweller
It’s the urban age for people – and for other species too – so it’s time to start planning for all the plants and animals that call our cities home. The urban age is upon us,...Read more
Including children in designing post-conflict environments
The value of a child’s role in designing a post-conflict environment cannot be overstated. So believes architect Nerea AmorĂłs Elorduy, who will be sharing some of her ideas and insights when she presents at the Child...Read more
What if children design their cities?
Kent ve Cocuk (City and Children) is a Turkish-based ‘urbanism’ initiative using 3D modelling workshops to see how children would design their own cities. The team of three urban planners and an architect came together in...Read more
Youngsters reach for the stars in Ho Chi Minh City
The visionaries behind a new children’s day nursery in Vietnam are inspiring children to quite literally look to the stars as part of their early years education. A starry night sky created by small holes punctured...Read more
A report from the NACTO Designing Cities Conference
Now in its sixth year, the NACTO Designing Cities Conference brought together 800 officials, planners, and practitioners to Chicago to advance the state of transportation in cities through plenaries, workshops, walkshops and sessions. The Designing...Read more
Designing Australia’s largest school in Melbourne
Melbourne architects are transforming our schools, with a new inner-city learning precinct to teach children from kindergarten to university. When populations explode, meeting the community’s education needs is a challenge. As local schools reach bursting point,...Read more
Transport policy needs to break free from the bias of engineers
In this second of her two-part essay on the need for cross-disciplinary approaches to street design and traffic management, Lucy Marstrand points to evidence of an innate bias towards roads – over pedestrian and cycle...Read more
After Grenfell, architects should lead child friendly housing reform
In the wake of the the Grenfell Tower disaster in London, architect Dinah Bornat argues that people-centred designs have been neglected by systemised and profit driven developments. She calls for a return to planning policies...Read more
Parents anxious about neighbourhoods restrict children’s outdoor play, finds new study
A study conducted by LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health has been greeted in the US as the country’s first serious research to find that parents who are concerned about the safety and...Read more
Toronto study explores high density family housing
In this second part of her short series, Cities for Children and Families, the Canadian urbanist, Jillian Glover looks at how innovative housing design concepts are making downtown living more family-friendly than ever before. There are many...Read more
Urban regeneration processes should be planned with children
According to the widely accepted definition, urban regeneration is a holistic approach that aims to improve cities by improving their economic, physical and social environmental conditions. Yet Turkey still has various problems with urban regeneration principles,...Read more