Designing safer cities means involving the children

The first step in creating a child-friendly city is listening to children. Pictured is the Tree of Hope where both adults and kids can share their hopes for Petaling Jaya.

A child-friendly city is one where every child matters in the planning, says Lenin B, 18, vice-president of the Petaling Jaya Child Council (PJCC), during a recent Unicef-Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) field visit.

“We need to include the voices of children when we plan and implement different aspects of the city – infrastructure, systems, even communication – so that it is designed with the best interests of children in mind,” he says.