Healthy public spaces for children within neighbourhoods through urban transformations

ABSTRACT

Public spaces have many tangible health benefits for children. This paper draws on the work developed by the authors working closely with UNICEF, UN-Habitat, and WHO to conceptualize, research, and write the principles and guidance of public spaces for children and a compendium of 50 case studies. For this paper, the authors selected eight case studies that directly or indirectly address children’s physical and mental health as a rationale for urban transformations and the development of public spaces within neighbourhoods and local areas using evidence-based health-promoting strategies. The analysis within and across cases understands some of these strategies, and the degree of urban transformation achieved as measured through changes in the physical and social environments and institutional arrangements. The case studies demonstrate it is possible to develop safe and vibrant public spaces within neighbourhoods through equity-focused planning to reduce health disparities for children and adolescents. Lessons are drawn for scaling up niche ideas to create healthy cities and neighbourhoods for children while also addressing the gaps, most notably that of insufficient efforts devoted to moving beyond assumptions of health benefits to actually making visible the health impacts of the interventions.

KEYWORDS:

• Children’s health
• public spaces
• urban transformation
• underserved neighbourhoods
• equity-focused planning

Disclosure statement

The author team was involved in the research and writing of the ‘Global Principles and Guidance of Public Spaces for Children’ led by Dr. Sudeshna Chatterjee as the lead consultant to UNICEF and WHO. We had a third member in the original team but she was not involved in the development of this manuscript. Dr. Chatterjee, as the lead author, has received approval from UNICEF and WHO, the two agencies that had engaged her, to develop and publish this paper.

Notes

1. A charitable organization dedicated to the regeneration of east Belfast and comprising of members from the community, statutory organizations, and from political and business spheres.

Additional information

Funding

The “Global Principles and Guidance of Public Spaces for Children” project was funded by UNICEF, UN-Habitat, and WHO. The research and further development of concepts and ideas for this paper received no additional funding from any source.

Notes on contributors

Sudeshna Chatterjee

Sudeshna Chatterjee is the Program Director for Research at the WRI- India Ross Centre for Sustainable Cities. Before her current position, she has led several multi-country research and evaluation projects for UNICEF, Save the Children, and the International Play Association; held academic positions in urban planning and design; practiced as an urban designer; and founded a non-profit organization Action for Children’s Environments. She has a Ph.D. from the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning at North Carolina State University. Dr. Chatterjee led the research and writing of the UN system-wide “Global Principles and Guidance of Public Spaces for Children” and an associated compendium of 50 case studies acting on behalf of UNICEF, WHO, and UN-Habitat.

Chandrani Dutta

Chandrani Dutta is an independent researcher and consultant working on international and national projects. Her research interests include contemporary urban policies, marginal communities living in slums, and urban exclusion. Dr. Dutta was part of the team that conducted the rapid assessment of the Impact of COVID-19 on Urban Settings and Implications for UNICEF’s Programming in Cities. She worked as a research associate on developing the “Global Principles and Guidance for Public Space for Children” supported by WHO, UNICEF, and UN Habitat. Dr. Dutta has a Ph.D. from the Centre for the Study of Regional Development (CSRD), School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi.