From child-friendly places to child-friendly cities

Since the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child became Swedish law in 2020, children's rights must be taken into account in urban planning. Today, this right is highly relevant.

– Children's access to outdoor environments is influenced by planning ideals and social trends. From the 1960s, when the physical environment for children was given early attention in planning documents and recommendations, to today's reality, where children's mobility in the city is declining, said Maria Kylin, senior lecturer in Landscape Architecture at SLU, at the first webinar of the autumn in the series Venue: Urban Landscapes.

More playful and safer streets 

In Malmö, several initiatives are underway to reverse this trend. One example is Gatulabba, a project run by Växtvärket. The goal is to increase children's freedom of movement by redesigning roads into play-friendly and safe streets. 

– We asked ourselves whether it was possible to involve children in urban development in a way that was both meaningful to them and led to positive results. We explored this by working with children to build full-scale prototypes based on their visions, said Sara Stiber, operations manager for Växtvärket. 

A colorful children's bike path is one example – a concrete proposal that both improves traffic safety and signals that children have a natural place in the urban environment.

Sara Stiber shared the lessons learned from the project's three years:

– Children must find the process fun. It is important to listen to them at eye level and take them seriously. Those of us who work with children’s participation must show how co-creation can lead to more established and innovative solutions.

Self-driving cars in the Lorensborg of the future

Researchers Victoria Sjöstedt and Johan Wirdelöv from SLU presented Gatulabba 2045 – a transdisciplinary research project in which children imagine life in the Lorensborg district of Malmö in 20 years' time.

– Speculative design is not about solving problems or guessing correctly about the future. Instead, it is about using speculation and design activities to broaden discussions and encourage reflection, they explained. 

The project was based on an overall scenario in which self-driving cars are part of everyday life. A number of children used the overall scenario with five fictional characters as a starting point to imagine possible futures. The children's ideas were then passed on to students, who visualized the stories in pop-up books. 

– The scenario with self-driving cars evoked strong feelings among the students. In many cases, they felt it was too extreme and technology-focused. They also question the relevance of speculative design in landscape architecture. However, it is also this provocation that motivates them to take action – to empathize with the fictional characters. This opens up freer associations. 

The project group then used the material to make a speculative film about Lorensborg in 2045. They want to show the film to politicians, planners, and the general public to promote new ways of thinking and discussions about the city of tomorrow. 

Sweden's first child-friendly district 

A short distance beyond Lorensborg lies Norra Sofielund, where Malmö City has been working since January this year to create Sweden's first child-friendly neighborhood. 

 – The aim during the first year of the project is to see how the existing environment can be developed, with the goal of creating safe, green, car-free zones where children and young people can play and move around more freely, said Max Hanander, project manager at Malmö City. 

The project focuses on how the area can be changed to make room for children of all ages – from babies to teenagers. A major challenge is cooperation between different actors such as administrations, housing companies and civil society. 

– Cooperation is needed at many levels, both internally and externally. We need to work together to create a long-term and sustainable result, said Max Hanander.

Don't miss the next breakfast webinar

With nearly 300 participants at the last webinar, Venue: Urban Landscapes has quickly become an important platform for sharing knowledge about urban development and current research projects.

The next webinar will take place on October 17 with the theme: When water redraws the map – challenges and opportunities for the outdoor environments of the future.