Creating a more child friendly urban environment
2025-10-20
In Ganzhou, Jiangxi, children's observers transformed into "little experience officers" and walked into Pocket Sports Park, providing suggestions and ideas for the transformation of children's fitness from a pure perspective, injecting fresh inspiration into urban construction; In Huangpu District, Shanghai, Dapuqiao Street also welcomed the "Little Tour Guide Volunteer Service Team", where children visited and deeply explored the history and culture of Tianzifang, showcasing the charm of Shanghai style culture to the world with childlike explanations... These practices that occurred in different cities collectively point to a warm and profound urban development concept - building a child friendly city. The height of 1 meter is becoming a new standard for measuring the quality of urban civilization and development. The vigorous development of child friendly spaces cannot be separated from the strong support of national policies. In 2021, multiple departments jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Construction of Child Friendly Cities", and the construction of child friendly cities has since entered the "fast lane". Cities such as Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu, and Changsha have successively introduced local plans and action plans, integrating child friendly concepts into all aspects of urban construction and striving to create a safer and healthier environment for children's growth. Not long ago, the General Office of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Rural Development and others jointly issued the "List of replicable experiences in the construction of urban child friendly spaces (second batch)", which systematically sorted out the successful practices in institutional mechanism innovation, child friendly block construction, and child friendly transformation of public service facilities in various regions, providing useful references for more cities to explore. In Shenzhen, natural playgrounds that cater to children's nature are set up in parks, the community promotes the safety renovation of "school paths", and standardized mother and baby rooms and children's activity corners are established in public places such as libraries and hospitals... The concept of child friendliness is being transformed into a series of touchable and perceptible construction standards. If these efforts have built a secure physical space for the healthy growth of children, then Chengdu's "Children's Congress" system has opened another window, allowing children to no longer be passive recipients, but also active participants in urban construction. They use immature brushes and language to propose "golden ideas" for the design of community gardens and the improvement of traffic safety. The process of participation is also a process of children's physical and mental growth, allowing 'I am the master of my city'. In Beijing, urban renewal provides new opportunities for expanding child friendly spaces. Some abandoned spaces have been transformed into age friendly community parks, where areas for children to play coexist harmoniously with fitness equipment for the elderly and benches for young people to relax, achieving the goal of 'one space, everyone has their own fun'. This integrated design approach has given us a lot of inspiration. To make the concept of child friendliness bloom and bear fruit better, it depends on us to gather a broader social consensus and promote the construction of more diverse collaborative participation mechanisms. On the one hand, urban governance should incorporate the construction of child friendly spaces into the overall planning and assessment system of urban development, and guide and encourage deep collaboration across departments and fields. For example, the education department can promote the opening of more campus sports facilities, the transportation department may further optimize the slow traffic system around the campus, and the health department should also consider further promoting the coverage of mother and baby rooms in public places. By establishing a normalized joint meeting system, a strong policy synergy can be formed. On the other hand, gathering more social forces to inject more vitality into the construction of a child friendly environment. By establishing special funds and organizing child friendly space design competitions, professional designers, university teams, and other professionals can be attracted to join and engage in more innovative and creative activities. At the same time, encourage and guide enterprises to invest in child friendly services and actively practice social responsibility, such as opening public parent-child activity areas in commercial complexes. Believing in the combination of professional knowledge, innovative ideas, and market vitality will give rise to more high-quality and replicable excellent cases. It is worth mentioning that in the construction of child friendly spaces, "child participation" is a principle that cannot be ignored. In addition to forms such as "children's councils", a "city observer" toolkit suitable for children of different ages can also be developed to encourage them to identify problems and provide suggestions while walking and playing. At the beginning of some community planning and other projects, children can be invited to participate as "little experts" to ensure that their needs are heard and respected. At the same time, establish a clear feedback mechanism to allow children to see how their suggestions are gradually turned into reality. A child friendly city is necessarily a city that is friendly to everyone. The flat ramps designed for baby strollers also facilitate wheelchair access; The reduced speed to ensure the safety of children also protects the safety of all pedestrians. Children are our future. Caring for children is protecting the future. Let's work together to create a safe, healthy, and warm environment for their growth, allowing them to grow up in the sunshine and run freely! (New Society)
Edit:Luoyu Responsible editor:Wang Erdong
Source:GMW.cn
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