Infant, Toddler, Caregiver-Friendly Neighbourhood (ITCN) Framework and Guidelines

What can cities do to nurture positive early experiences and protect against negative ones? How can neighbourhoods and therefore cities support parents to talk and play with children? How can neighbourhoods and cities minimize causes of stress and provide opportunities for rest and relief? The Infant, Toddler, Caregiver-Friendly Neighbourhood (ITCN) Framework and Guidelines comprises five publications that will help Smart Cities in India to create infant, toddler and caregiver-friendly neighbourhoods.

The first of the five publications, the Policy Framework lays out the rationale for making improvements to neighbourhoods and explains the objectives of doing so. It constitutes an overall strategy for the infant, toddler and caregiver-friendly neighbourhood.

The Design Guidelines supplement other urban design guidelines that exist for the Indian context. They ask what infants, toddlers and caregivers need from key features of pedestrian-oriented public space, define physical components and approaches, illuminate their interrelationships with neighbourhoods, and communicate how objectives can be achieved.

The Policy Workbook guides urban leaders and citizens to define policy frameworks to achieve ITC-friendly neighbourhoods. It discusses helpful institutional frameworks, which stakeholders need to be involved, what roadblocks may need to be addressed and how.

This document contains a set of 65 indicators that officials can use to measure the quality of a neighbourhood for infant, toddler and caregiver needs. Evaluation metrics can help to incorporate scientific research into evidence-based decision-making, measure performance, calibrate progress, illuminate lessons learned and reassess priorities.

The Compendium draws on global and Indian examples of neighbourhood-level design interventions that meet the objectives of creating neighbourhoods for infants, toddlers and caregivers.