Children and Planning

Planning is central to ensuring children and
young people live in safe, secure places, that they are included and can be
active. There can be few aspects of planners' work that do not directly impact
on children from designing city centres, to implementing policies that will
minimise the environmental effects of industrial practices. The United Nations
Convention on the rights of the Child (1989) requires planners to consider
children in matters affecting them and affirms that they have the right to be
heard on such matters and there is a consensus that it is important to try and
engage children and young people in the planning process. The main question is -
how?

This book provides a range
of international case studies, both planning-led and other more general
examples which have relevance for planners and planning, which illustrate good
practice. It offers a variety of tools and techniques which have proved to be successful
and discusses the work that needs to be done to enable planners to respond more
effectively. It identifies key areas of concern generally with reference to the
built environment and more precisely to planning theory and practice.