Gebt den Kindern das Kommando - Playground@Landscape

Croatia hosts 6th edition of Child in the City
The 6th edition of the Child in the City Conference will be held on
26-28 September 2012 in the city of Zagreb. Zagreb has been the
first city in Croatia to implement a strategy for children based on
modern scientific achievements and national and international laws
and documents. Zagreb has implemented several child friendly projects
and programmes. Part of the systematic policy of the city is to
improve the care of children who have been exposed to the consequences
of the war. Zagreb has proclaimed itself a ‘child friendly city’.
Consequently, Zagreb is a logical host for the 6th edition of the Child
in the City conference, whose objective it is to encourage cities to become
more child friendly. The city of Zagreb follows five European
cities that were former hosts of this bi-annual conference. In September
of this year Zagreb and the initiators of this conference - the Child
in the City Foundation and the European Network Child Friendly
Cities – will discuss themes and policies and share best practices with
conference delegates from all over Europe.
This year’s conference will focus on four specific themes. One is
children’s play. “We wish to stress the influence of city planning and
the need for children to have enough time and space to play”, says
Jan van Gils, President of the European Network Child Friendly Cities.
He explains: “Children’s most typical behaviour is playing. This
behaviour is very important in child development; they need enough
time and space to be who they are and to become who they will be.”
The Child in the City conference will also pay attention to the
UN-Convention on the Rights of the Child. This convention has an
impact on cities’ local policies in terms of child friendliness. Leading
up to the 25th anniversary of the UN-convention in 2013 the Child
in the City conference will contribute to developing a General Comment
(an official interpretation) of article 31 (right to play) of the UN-
Convention on children’s rights. This process has been started yet by
the Committee of Children’s Rights and is planned to be finalized at
the end of 2012.
The conference will further deal with children’s health within a child
friendly city. The challenge of this theme is the integration of diffe-
FAIR
rent aspects of health. Besides physical health there also needs to be
attention for mental health (feel good, feel self-confident, enjoy life)
and even more globally for social health (feel appreciated at home
and in the social environment, having friends, living in a healthy
environment etc.). The conference will discuss and integrate these
health aspects.
The fourth and final theme this year is intergenerational development.
Jan van Gils: “As children don’t want to be an isolated group
of citizens, also other groups, such as elderly people, don’t want to be
isolated. Therefore this theme is more than a decoration, it’s an essential
quality of the society”. He continues: “This theme is being
discussed throughoutEurope. No insulation or growing apart for generations,
but integration. As this is possible within the family, it also
needs to be realised at the level of the whole society”. Van Gils wraps
up: “I hope that our conference in September again inspires more and
more cities to create an increasingly child friendly environment”.
For more information please contact:
Child in the City Foundation
Ilona Leuvenkamp, project manager
T: +31 (0)30 6981800
E: ileuvenkamp@childinthecity.com
www.childinthecity.com / www.childfriendlycities.eu
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