Smart Child-Friendly Cities within the framefork of Sustainable, Inclusive & Prosperous Cities

Gora Mboup, Ph.D., President & CEO, Global Observatory linking Research to Action

gmboup@gora4people.org

www.gora4people.org

Building Smart Child-Friendly Cities for 21st Century IndiaPlenary Session 1: Including Children in Policy Regulation

New Delhi, India, 28 November 2014

Content

• The urban context

• Child-friendly City Concept and Operational areas • Smart Child-Friendly Cities Index within the framework of Sustainable, Inclusive

and Prosperous Cities

• Building Smart Child-Friendly Cities start with planning and Designing of Streets as Public Spaces for a Sustainable City Foundation

• Observatory for Smart Child-friendy Cities

19th Century: the Rural Century with 98% living in villages at the beginning and 90% at the end of the century

Urbanization in the World: from a rural century to a urban century

20th Century: the Urban Transition Century with only 10% living in cities and towns at the beginning and 47% at the end of the century

21th Century: the Urban Century with half of the world living in cities at the beginning and 70% by 2050

Urban context of sustainability, Inclusiveness and Prosperity

1990 2000 2010 2015 —

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

14,000

16,000

18,000

20,000

22,000

24,000

26,000

28,000 Mega and Meta Cities in India with a population more than 10 million or more in 2015, Delhi

Mumbai

Kolkata

1990 2000 2010 2015 —

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000 Indian Cities with a population size near 10 million or more in 2015

AhmadabadBangaloreChennai (Madras)Hyderabad

Endless growth of cities in the periphery Low density settlements Reduction of land allocated to streets and public spaces Growing inequalities between rich and poor Grave damage to the environment

Urbanization and rapid land expansion

Urbanization and slum expansion

33% of urban population live in slums

864 million of urban population in developing countries live in slums

http://childfriendlycities.org/overview/what-is-a-child-friendly-city/

Concept of Child-Friendly Cities

The concept of Child Friendly Cities (CFC) is an embodiment of the Convention on the Rights of the Child at the local level, where children’s rights are reflected in policies, laws, programmes and budgets

In a child friendly city, children are active agents; and their voices and opinions are taken into consideration and influence decision making processes

Operational Areas of the Child Friendly City (CFC) Concept

Social Inclusion, Participation & Equality• Influence decisions about their city• Express their opinion on the city they want• Participate in family, community and social life• Participate in cultural and social events• Be an equal citizen of their city with access to every

service

Environment• Have green spaces for plants and animals• Live in an unpolluted environment

Infrastructure & Service Provision• Receive basic services such as health care and

education• Access to safe water and adequate sanitation

Safety & Security• Be protected from exploitation, violence and abuse• Walk safely in the streets on their own• Meet friends play

Milestones in Achievement of Child Friendly Cities

• 1989 – U.N General Assembly adopts the Convention on the Rights of the Child

• 1990 - World Summit for Children

• 1996 - Second UN Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) declares that: “the well-being of children is the ultimate indicator of a healthy habitat, a democratic society and good governance “ and the Child Friendly Cities Initiative launched

• 2000 - The International Secretariat of CFCI established

• 2014 – Evaluating progress; Cities for Children: Rapid Urbanisation, Economic Growth and the Well-being of Children - World Vision International (Urban October 2014)

Voices from Children during the Urban

October 2014• In New Delhi, children raised critical questions about the city’s

environmental pollution, solid waste management, child rights, drug abuse and protection to local authorities in Delhi, UN-Habitat and partners

• In Recife, children identified violence and lack of infrastructure as the greatest challenges to a Better Urban Future

• In Beirut, children and youth voiced the challenges they faced living in the city of Beirut surrounding by conflict

Smart Child-Friendly Cities are Sustainable, Inclusive & ProsperousFor a city to be smart child-friendly it must be sustainable, inclusive and prosperous. It must promote a people-centered approach on various dimensions such as: city foundation, infrastructure, environment, economy development, social development, social inclusion, disaster exposure, resilience, peace & security, and institutions & laws

Urban Planning, Basic infrastructure, Policies

Building Smart Child-Friendly Cities start with planning and Designing of Streets as Public Spaces for a Sustainable City Foundation

Urban Planning – streets as public spacesA sustainable city foundation must have a well connected street network with sufficient land allocated to streets that reduce travel time and encourage walking, cycling and social interactions. Well planned streets enhance infrastructure development, environment sustainability, economic development, social development, and social inclusion. They make cities resilient and prepared to overcome natural disasters.

http://mirror.unhabitat.org/pmss/listItemDetails.aspx?publicationID=3513

Author: Gora Mboup, Ph.D., goramboup@yahoo.com

Key findings for Sustainable & Inclusive Prosperity for Cities

Land allocated to streets in suburban areas is less than half its level in the core of the sity

Percentage of land allocated to streets in selected cities (City core & Sub-urban areas)

Key Findings

•Reduction of share of streets in city

• In most cities in developed countries, 25-35% of land are allocated to streets, with 10-15% in suburban areas

•In most cities in developing countries 10-15% or less are allocated to streets in the city core and less than 5% in suburban areas

Key Findings

Lack of street is obstacle to building smart child-friendly cities affecting:

- Infrastructure development - Economic development- Social development - Social inclusion- Environmental Sustainability - Resilience- Disaster Exposure - Peace & security

Citizens are Reclaiming Streets as Public Spaces

No city can claim to be child-friendly when large segments of its population do not have access to streets.

Livable street puts people first and eases provision of amenities like seating, play areas, good sidewalks and trees – all these make all people, particularly children, women and the elderly feel safe and comfortable.

Observartory linking Research to Action (ORA) for Smart Child-Friendly Cities

Observatories linking Research to Action for smart child-friendly cities

" Better Information for better people centered polices” is the primary goal of GORA

Observatories are institutional homes for development of urban indicators with quantitative as well as qualitative sources, from classical sources of information (population and housing censuses and household surveys) as well as GIS, Big data. They serve monitoring, evaluation and result-based management. They promote an agenda by the people for the people. .

Observatoryfor Smart Child Friendly Cities

CentralGovern-ment

Gen-der

Educ

Parlia-Ment-arians

Infra-struct-ure

NSO

Loc.Auth.

LandHous-ing

Aca-demia

Univ.

Train-ing

Res-earch

CivilSociety/Media

Press

Priv.Sect. NGOs

RadioTV

Youth

ExternalSupportAgencies

UN

Donors

Bilat-erals

INGOs

LocalAuthorit-ies

Munic-palities

Assoc-iations

Reg.Auth.

Sub-Reg

Voc.Tr.

Prof.Soc.

Wom-en’sGrps

Vul-Nerable-grps

Cont.Educ.

City-Citycoop

Para-statals

Observatory starts with Stakeholders consultation

Visualize, analyse and participate - Advocacy & Communication

Key findings must be taken to people, Children organization and institutions through user friendly platform of advocacy and communication accessible to All. Observatories promote Open data through data visualization and revolution technology including social media, open portal, workshops and conferences.

Needs for training & capacity development in the development and use of indicators for policy formulation

A major weak link between research and action is in the difficulty of people, government employees and other stakeholders to use indicators for policy formulation. People and technicians as well as managers, and decision-makers, must be equipped with instruments on the development and use of indicators to empower themselves and inform policies and programmes.