Towards creating child-friendly cities: allocation of urban spaces to children in Mashhad, Iran

Abstract

Children are the future contributors and decision makers of the world. They are equal citizens with the same rights as adults and are valued as citizens of today, rather than future citizens or citizens of tomorrow. The day is coming when the majority of the world’s children will grow up in cities and towns. Every year, the world’s urban population increases by approximately 60 million people. Most of this growth is taking place in low- and middle-income countries. Asia is home to half of the world’s urban population. It is now thought that six out of 10 of our future children will grow up in cities, in poverty, at risk. Yet, most cities are largely unfriendly to children and have governments that take few steps to address children’s needs and assess children’s priorities.This paper aims to review the urban facilities per capita assigned to children in the urban spaces of Mashhad city. In this study, the desired information collected by referring to the documents and based on these information the conclusion has been made. The findings indicate that the rate of facilities per capita assigned to the spaces for children in the development plans of Mashhad do not meet the needs of this part of community. Therefore, pay attention to the needs of children in the development plans of Mashhad and moving toward child-friendly city can be provide better living conditions not only for children but also for all citizens.