Child-Friendly Cities: Urban95 Guidelines in Israel

The family is the cornerstone of Israeli society across sectors, economic status and level of education. In this sense, the preparation of planning guidelines in this booklet was not only carried out by a group of professionals, but by a collection of mothers and fathers, grandparents, aunts and uncles. In a country where more than 90% of the population live in urban environments, 28% of the population are children under 15 years old, and 10% of the population are 0-4 years old, it makes sense for cities to be designed in a way that makes the daily lives of different types of families easier.

So, if you could experience the city from 95 centimetres – the average height of a three-year-old – what would you change?

That’s the question the Bernard van Leer Foundation’s Urban-95 global initiative seeks to answer, which aims to create a healthy, safe and vibrant urban environment where babies, toddlers and their families can thrive and develop.

To answer this question and build child-friendly cities, we have supported the development of these planning and design guidelines for young children and their companions in Israel.