Young Explorers: new short films share city life as experienced by three-year-olds

Published October 3, 2019

In five newly released short films, toddlers take you along their daily hometown journeys in two very different cities – Pune in India and Recife in Brazil. Join Ahaan, Mokshada, Lulu, Elloah and Ze as they travel their streets with the people who care for them, and share the opportunities and challenges they encounter every day.

Today, more than a billion children live in cities. Cities can be wonderful places to grow up, but they can also pose serious challenges for the health and well-being of babies, toddlers and the people who care for them – from a lack of nature and safe spaces to play, to air pollution and traffic congestion, to social isolation.

In Recife, a city of over 1.6 million inhabitants and over 4 million in the wider metropolitan area, families with young children can face violence and inequality. Parents of toddlers may not feel safe and, therefore, it is not so usual to meet outdoors for their children to play. Public life can be a challenge.

In Pune, with over 3 million inhabitants, families with young children face some unfavourable challenges with respect to clean air and traffic conditions. Babies and toddlers breathe up to four times as fast as adults and travel closer to the ground, where cars and buses release exhaust fumes. Sometimes streets are congested with few safe crossing places for children to commute.

At the same time, both Recife and Pune, like all cities, offer marvellous opportunities for babies and toddlers to explore, interact with and learn from the sights, sounds and fellow residents of the city.

Toddlers Ahaan, Mokshada, Lulu, Elloah and Ze, together with the people who care for them, take you through their neighbourhoods in Pune and Recife and show you the city from 95cm.

After seeing their journeys and experiencing the city through their eyes, what do you like and what would you change?

Watch Young Explorers videos

Lulu in Recife Meet Lulu. Follow this young explorer, aged nearly 3, as she travels the streets of her home town Recife, Brazil – climbing steep paths, buying a carton of drink, watching older boys play football, and visiting the community centre with her mother.
Ahaan in Pune Meet Ahaan. Follow this young explorer, aged 18 months, as he travels the streets of his home town Pune, India – chasing a dog, climbing in a tuk-tuk, meeting artisans at work making copper bowls, and reaching for brightly coloured produce at the market.
Ze in Recife Meet Ze. Follow this young explorer, aged 4, as he travels the streets of his home town Recife, Brazil – chasing pigeons, walking through a closed market, drinking from a coconut and playing on the beach with his father.
Mokshada in Pune Meet Mokshada. Follow this young explorer, aged 13 months, as she travels the streets of her home town Pune, India – shyly meeting other children, enjoying a drink of lime juice, climbing uneven steps and crossing a busy road in her father’s arms.
Elloah in Recife Meet Elloah. Follow this young explorer, aged 5, as she travels the streets of her home town Recife, Brazil, with her grandmother and cousin – taking the bus to the market, looking at chickens, shopping for beans and bananas, and waiting for the bus back home.

Join the movement!

We’d love to see your photos or videos of babies, toddlers and the people who care for them living everyday life in your city. What do you like? And what would you change?

ACTION: Post your photo or video on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram or LinkedIn with the following message:

Here is my city from 95 cm. What do you think? A city that works for babies and toddlers is a city that works for everyone. #urban95explorers

About Young Explorers

The Young Explorers short films were developed by NYC-based filmmaker Jacob Krupnick and supported by the Bernard van Leer Foundation as part of our Urban95 initiative. Urban95 is rooted in the belief that when urban neighbourhoods work well for babies, toddlers and the people who care for them, they work well for everybody. These videos follow the filmmaker’s earlier project ‘Young Explorers Club’ in which he showed what happens when children explore the world on their own terms.