Cities for children
Around the world, cities are making an effort to provide a safe environment that promotes development for children. Here an - incomplete - list of successful examples:
- Climbing, roller-skating or letting off steam both physically and artistically – an old ship ramp was turned into a park for all generations in a top central location in Malmö, Sweden. In 2009, the project was presented with the "Cities for Children" award – a project by the City of Stuttgart and the Robert Bosch Stiftung – in the category "Design of open spaces and play areas." The prize was also awarded to the town of Darmstadt for redesigning the Kranichstein area. In both towns, the desires and needs of children and young people were particularly taken into account, praised the jury. www.citiesforchildren.eu; http://www.citiesforchildren.eu/145.0.html; Website in English
- The cities of Munich and Liverpool won the awards in the category "Mobility and traffic safety." The regional capital of Bavaria impressed with a traffic safety training idea that includes all age levels and the port city in northern England designed a training programme. Those awarding the prize commended the fact that children with a social disadvantage were particularly taken into account. www.citiesforchildren.eu, http://www.citiesforchildren.eu/145.0.html, Website in English
- The small town of Griesheim in Hessen has tuned in to the needs of children and set up playing opportunities along paths particularly used by children, which are open to interpretation for their use. Small symbol signposts guide the young road users through the traffic more safely and individual streets are closed to traffic for an afternoon and opened only to children for playing. The idea of the "Playable City" was awarded with multiple prizes. www.griesheim.de/Bespielbare-Stadt.1029.0.html, Website in German
- The Unicef "Child Friendly Cities" initiative names projects from all over the world, through which cities could be made more child-friendly. The website contains countless data on the topic as well as checklists and catalogues of measures. www.childfriendlycities.org, Website in English
- The Deutsche Verkehrsclub (German Traffic Association) has assessed 81 cities in Germany as part of its "City Traffic Safety Check." 37 were classified "green", here it was possible to reduce the number of casualties by more than average. In Pforzheim, Tübingen and Trier there were no road deaths at all in 2009, however in other cities, such as Bremen, Bonn and Dresden, the number of road casualties has even increased over the past five years. www.vcd.org/vcd_staedtecheck.html, Website in German
