A street scene in Fortaleza, Brazil, designed according to the principles provided in “Designing … [+]
Most streets were not built with children in mind, and in many places around the world they are uninviting and unsafe for kids, according to a new guide.
“Designing Streets for Kids,” released earlier this month by the Global Designing Cities Initiative, a program of the National Association of City Transportation Officials, offers planning strategies and practical solutions to redesign urban streets and public spaces by focusing on the needs of kids and their caregivers, with the goal of making streets beautiful, fun — and safe.
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for young people ages 5-29 globally, and traffic congestion and vehicles contribute to high levels of air pollution, which is responsible for the death of 127,000 children under the age of five each year, the guide’s authors said. Many of these deaths, they said, can be dramatically reduced through kid-friendly street design.
Skye Duncan, director of the Global Designing Cities Initiative, said that urban design challenges impact all children, but are especially stark for children in low-income and historically under served communities. The guide, “provides actionable strategies for ensuring equitable access to these vital public spaces,” she said.
“Children are the most vulnerable people on city streets, and their safety should come first,” Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and former Mayor of the City of New York, said in a statement. “But until recently, streets were designed around automobiles—not people. We’ve begun to change that, and it’s saving a lot of lives. This guide will help more cities take action, and make their streets safer and better for residents of all ages.”
The “Designing Streets for Kids ” guide is part of the Streets for Kids program,which is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Bernard Van Leer Foundation, the FIA Foundation, and Fondation Botnar.
The guide offers detailed diagrams and graphics, and a range of practices, strategies, programs, and policies that are known to work globally “by cities from Bogotá to Moscow,” the authors said, to encourage physical activity, exercise and play in a safe environment, with less traffic and good air quality.
Special attention is given to areas of importance to children, like schools, neighborhood streets, as well as high-traffic areas like commercial streets and intersections. The guide also highlights tactics to engage children throughout the planning process — “an often-overlooked approach that can dramatically transform how streets are designed and used.”
The guide comes at a critical time, with widespread closures of schools, daycare centers, and playgrounds due to the COVID-19 pandemic, when cities are being challenged to think creatively about how to help children spend time outdoors safely.
Many of the design principles outlined in the guide are already being carried out in some cities: Tirana, Albania; Santiago, Chile; Kigali, Rwanda; Fortaleza, Brazil; and New York in the United States.
“Cities committed to better environments for their children to play, learn, and live can use this new resource to implement child-friendly urban design,” Saul Billingsley, executive director of the FIA Foundation, said in a statement, stressing the need for every child to be able to use safe roads and breathe clean air.
“If you design a street that works for kids, you’ve designed a street that works for everyone,” Janette Sadik-Khan, chair of the Global Designing Cities Initiative and its parent group, the National Association of City Transportation Officials, and transportation principal at Bloomberg Associates, said in a statement. “’Designing Streets for Kids’ shows how cities can lead by design to improve the quality of life for people everywhere.”
“Designing Streets for Kids” is a supplement of the “Global Street Design Guide.” To access both, click here and here.
