The concept of childhood as we understand it today is a relatively recent development in human history. Until the Middle Ages, children were viewed simply as miniature adults without distinct developmental needs. According to historian Philippe Ariès, it was only from the 17th century onward that childhood began to be recognized as a unique stage of human development requiring specific care, education, and protection. However, this evolving understanding has not been consistently reflected in how we design and organize urban spaces.

Modern cities have been shaped predominantly by economic and productivity-oriented paradigms, with urban planning defaulting to the adult worker as the primary user. Within this framework, children are frequently overlooked in planning processes. When they are considered, it's often through segregated spaces like fenced playgrounds, designated areas, or surveillance circuits that restrict rather than integrate their experiences. This raises a fundamental question: what kind of city are we creating when we exclude those who most need to explore, learn from, and connect with their surroundings?

Designing streets and cities for children means prioritizing the most vulnerable users in our urban environments. From a child's perspective, positioned just 80 to 120 centimeters above ground level with developing sensory awareness, the urban environment appears as a complex web of textures, sounds, shapes, and colors that profoundly shape how they experience the world. What seems like a functional, predictable route to an adult may feel confusing or even threatening to a child – or, if thoughtfully designed, full of wonder and discovery.

A simple paved sidewalk, for instance, becomes much more than just a place to walk for children. It can transform into a narrative surface: a game board for hopscotch, an exploratory trail for adventure, or a space where the body learns coordination and the imagination comes alive. Every element of the street takes on new meaning through a child's eyes. Manhole covers become portals to underground worlds, car headlights resemble abstract faces, and urban furniture invites jumping, climbing, or hiding games.

The "Designing Streets for Kids" guide, developed by the Global Designing Cities Initiative, outlines three fundamental principles for creating streets that are more welcoming to children by recognizing their unique needs and ways of experiencing public space. The first principle focuses on safety and health, emphasizing that streets should incorporate materials and design strategies that slow down vehicles, improve air quality, and promote active movement like walking, running, or cycling.

The second principle addresses comfort and accessibility, ensuring that streets offer adequate shade, resting areas, and surfaces suited to strollers and small wheels. This enables both caregivers and children to move around with ease and greater autonomy. The third principle emphasizes engagement and learning, advocating for spaces that are both entertaining and educational by incorporating color, texture, games, and interactive elements that transform everyday routes into journeys of discovery.

To achieve these goals, the guide offers practical recommendations that include both physical redesign strategies and meaningful community engagement processes. A key measure is the reduction of speed limits on local streets to 30 kilometers per hour (approximately 18 mph), achieved through design-based approaches such as narrower travel lanes, raised pedestrian crossings, and strategically placed landscaping that naturally influences driver behavior. Sidewalks should be wide, continuous, and fully accessible, ensuring safer and more comfortable journeys for pedestrians of all ages.

Nature plays an essential role in creating child-friendly urban environments. Trees and greenery not only help reduce urban heat islands and provide much-needed shade, but they also help children form meaningful connections with the living world around them. Areas surrounding schools, daycare centers, and hospitals should be given priority in redesign efforts, especially during peak hours when children are most present. These zones should be designed as spaces of care and heightened attention to safety.

The guide also highlights the critical importance of including children and caregivers directly in the planning process, incorporating their lived experiences and perspectives to build safer and more inclusive streets for everyone. This participatory approach ensures that design solutions address real needs rather than assumed ones.

When streets are made more accessible, playful, and integrated into daily life, they help reduce stress for both children and those who care for them. Movement becomes more enjoyable and significantly safer. At the same time, rich sensory experiences and spontaneous social interactions support cognitive development – elements that are absolutely essential to healthy childhood development. These changes also encourage more active lifestyles and reduce reliance on cars, supporting healthier daily routines and fostering greater independence among young people.

By transforming streets into spaces of genuine connection and collective expression, such interventions strengthen community pride and create a stronger sense of belonging for all residents. The result is not just a more efficient city, but one that welcomes its youngest citizens with greater sensitivity and care.

Examples of this child-centered approach are already emerging around the world, demonstrating the practical benefits of these design principles. In Barcelona, Spain, the "Protegim les Escoles" (Protecting Schools) program has successfully redesigned areas around schools using vibrant graphics, colorful paving materials, planters, and tactile surfaces. These changes have significantly reduced traffic speeds and improved air quality, while simultaneously turning the daily walk to school into a fun and stimulating experience for children.

In Paris, France, the "Rues aux Écoles" (Streets for Schools) initiative has transformed over 300 streets near schools since 2020. Many of these streets are now completely closed to motorized traffic during school hours, creating calmer zones filled with benches, plants, games, and visual cues that encourage curiosity and foster independence among young pedestrians.

For the third edition of the Gwangju Folly Festival in South Korea, the renowned architecture firm MVRDV collaborated directly with local children to create an urban installation that reflected their ideas, dreams, and unique perspectives. The result was a vibrant, multifaceted structure made of colorful elements that can be climbed, explored, and inhabited in countless ways. The installation emerged from a truly participatory design process, treating children's imagination as a legitimate and valuable tool for urban design.

In Recife, located in northeastern Brazil, the Global Designing Cities Initiative partnered with local authorities to redesign streets with a comprehensive focus on traffic safety, social equity, and climate resilience. As part of the Vision Zero Challenge – an international effort to eliminate traffic fatalities – the initiative addressed high rates of traffic collisions and frequent flooding issues, particularly in economically vulnerable areas. Through participatory workshops and temporary prototype installations, the design team developed evidence-based solutions, including safer intersection designs and permeable materials to help mitigate urban flooding. This project demonstrates how thoughtful urban design can simultaneously protect childhood, promote active mobility, and create safer, more welcoming routes to school.

Designing streets for children does not necessarily require large-scale infrastructure projects or massive financial investments. Rather, it calls for a fundamental shift in perspective and priorities. The thoughtful use of everyday materials can transform ordinary urban routes into rich sensory, educational, and emotional experiences. Painted surfaces, natural wood elements, rubber safety materials, permeable paving, vegetation, water features, and tactile elements become powerful tools that slow down the pace of city life, invite spontaneous play, and enrich everyday urban experiences from the earliest years of life.

At a time when cities around the world face unprecedented challenges including climate change, acute housing shortages, social fragmentation, and complex mobility transitions, placing children at the center of urban design may be one of the most powerful – and ultimately joyful – ways to reimagine collective urban life with genuine hope for the future. Designing through the lens of the most vulnerable users represents a foundational step toward creating healthier, more equitable, and truly inclusive communities. However, an equally important starting point lies in adopting a mindset grounded in curiosity and openness – one that consciously sets aside preconceived notions about urban functionality and embraces entirely new ways of seeing and experiencing the city. In essence, learning to see our urban environments the way children naturally see the world around them.