Blog

Read the selected insights, thoughts and experiences of our staff and partners.

A report from the NACTO Designing Cities Conference

Published November 21, 2017
A report from the NACTO Designing Cities Conference - Bernard van Leer Foundation

Now in its sixth year, the NACTO Designing Cities Conference brought together 800 officials, planners, and practitioners to Chicago to advance the state of transportation in cities through plenaries, workshops,… Read more

Activating urban public space with the help of PLAYBOXes

Published November 17, 2017

I’m Dounia Belmazouar and I’m working on a PLAYBOX for toddlers at Cultureghem with the support of the Bernard van Leer Foundation’s Urban95 Challenge fund. Cultureghem is a non-profit organisation… Read more

Managing Urban95 in Tel Aviv-Yafo: An interview with Bosmat Sfaadia-Wolf

Published November 16, 2017
Managing Urban95 in Tel Aviv-Yafo: An interview with Bosmat Sfaadia-Wolf

Bosmat Sfaadia-Wolf manages the Urban95 programme in Tel Aviv-Yafo, and has been employed by Tel Aviv-Yafo municipality since May 2017. In this interview she explains her unusual employment situation and… Read more

Playgrounds: more than just grounds to play on?

Published November 15, 2017
Urban95_nature playground_Rotterdam

Playgrounds. I learned so much about them over the last couple of days. To be honest, it turned out that I have always taken them for granted. I knew that… Read more

Global Teamwork - An interview with Joan Lombardi

Published October 30, 2017

Read the interview with Joan Lombardi, international expert on child development and social policy, for the Global Practices issue of NAEYC's Young Children. Read more

Beschuit met muisjes! A paternity leave breakthrough in the Netherlands

Published October 26, 2017

“Beschuit met muisjes” is the typical Dutch treat to celebrate the birth of a child in the Netherlands. They are crackers topped with little candies, blue or pink, for which… Read more

Let’s hear it from the children: How engaging young children, parents and caregivers in city building means creating better cities for all

Published October 25, 2017

Think about your city. What if the needs of young children and their caregivers were prioritised (not just considered) in city decision making? How would it look different from what… Read more

95 cm: the city at toddler level – how focusing on young children is changing my perspective on urban planning

Published October 20, 2017

From October 10 to 14, urban experts and trend setters from all over the world were gathered in Amsterdam at the annual forum held by the Project for Public Spaces:… Read more

How cities can use dashboards to make better decisions about early childhood

Published October 19, 2017

One of the tools used by cities as they collect more data is a “dashboard”: a tool for collating and sharing data in an accessible format. A dashboard can be… Read more

Games and art bring Bogotá community together

Published October 17, 2017
Crezco con mi barrio - Bogota95 - Bernard van Leer Foundation

The first Urban95 Crezco con mi barrio (“Growing with my neighbourhood”) experimenting exercise took place on Sunday October 1, with the purpose of giving public space back to the people… Read more