Abstract
With cities worldwide growing exponentially and global population displacement on the rise, the coming decades will see increasing numbers of children growing up in informal, resource-restricted, and otherwise fragile urban settings. While the typologies of vulnerable urban contexts can vary, living in these environments have significant negative impacts on the optimal development of young children, as well as their support networks. But, in these areas the needs of children and most vulnerable often go unheard in decision-making and planning. The early years of a child’s life are crucial for healthy physical and mental development. Neuroscience research demonstrates that a child’s experiences with family, caregivers and their environment provide the foundation for lifelong learning and behaviour. To develop to their full potential, young children require not only the minimum basics of good nutrition and healthcare, clean air and water and a safe environment; they also need plenty of opportunities to explore, to play, and to experience warm, responsive human interactions. For young children to make the most of their surrounding environment, those places need to cater to age-relevant developmental needs, while providing affordances and barrier-free access for caregivers. Arup and the Bernard van Leer Foundation have partnered to combine their design expertise and knowledge of early childhood development to support professionals and decision makers working in vulnerable urban contexts to make lasting positive change for young children, their caregivers, and pregnant women, with benefits for the whole community. We developed the Proximity of Care Design Guide, addressing the Urban95 initiative’s bold but simple question: If you could experience the city from 95cm – the height of a 3-year-old – what would you change? The guide was developed using an applied and participatory research approach, including desk-based analysis, consultations with child development experts and urban practitioners, and fieldwork in refugee and informal settlements in Kenya, Lebanon, Jordan and South Africa, in collaboration with local partners: the Kounkuey Design Initiative, Catalytic Action, Civic and VPUU. To develop a user friendly and relevant guide, we also established a Technical Review Committee with a select group of experts and decision makers from both city government and the humanitarian and development sectors. The Committee includes individuals operating at the forefront of policy, design and construction in vulnerable urban contexts, as well as those involved in initiatives focusing on early childhood development, and/or involved in children’s development more broadly. The Proximity of Care approach is at the core of the Guide. It provides a holistic structure to understand the most critical areas to improving early childhood development in vulnerable contexts. It considers both hard and soft assets – physical space, infrastructure and materiality, as well as human interactions and relationships, and policy and planning support – at different urban scales. The approach assesses four Dimensions foundational to optimal childhood development – Health, Protection, Stimulation and Support, at three scales of interaction: household, neighbourhood and city levels. The Design Guide three sections – Understand, Design and Influence provide guiding principles, working tools, best practice examples and recommendations, which can be used to assess, design and build healthy, protective, stimulating and supportive environments for young children’s optimal development; and to advocate for child and family friendly interventions in vulnerable urban contexts. The Get Inspired section provides best practice examples of relevant projects from around the globe. Initially conceived before Covid-19 and aimed primarily at informal and refugee settlements – which are home to hundreds of millions of children – the guide has become increasingly relevant more widely, as the pandemic has pushed more urban families into poverty around the world.
