+ BACKGROUND, CHALLENGES AND OBJECTIVES

The "Streets for Children" initiative in Baguio City, Philippines, addresses multiple challenges and gaps linked to child-friendly urban settings and children's well-being. Baguio City, commonly called the "Summer Capital of the Philippines," is a highly urbanized city in the province of Benguet. It has a population of around 355,358 people (2020 PSA Census) and is a famous tourist destination owing to its pleasant temperature and picturesque terrain.

Baguio City's history, population size, socioeconomic features, and spatial qualities all led to the need for the "Streets for Children" project. Rapid urbanization and population expansion in Baguio City have increased traffic congestion and lack safe places for children to play and interact with others. Furthermore, the city's socioeconomic features, such as income disparities and informal settlements, have further reduced access to safe and child-friendly spaces.

Baguio City, like many other Philippine cities, is facing several development concerns, including climate change, increasing expenses for living, and urbanization issues. Climate change threatens children's safety and well-being by causing extreme weather events, floods, and landslides. The growing expense of living may limit children's leisure possibilities and impede their overall development. Rapid urbanization and haphazard urban design may result in a scarcity of green areas and safe streets for children to participate in physical activity and social interaction.

The "Streets for Children" program was chosen to address the aforementioned challenges. This approach makes cities more child-friendly by changing streets into safe, accessible, and inclusive environments for children. It acknowledges the need to emphasize children's urban planning and design demands to ensure their right to play, learn, and move freely in their communities. By using this strategy, Baguio City hopes to improve its young people's well-being, physical activity levels, and social engagement.

The initiative seeks to turn streets into safe and secure spaces where children may walk, cycle, and play without fear of being hit by a car or other dangers. This includes traffic control measures, pedestrian-friendly infrastructure, and the creation of dedicated play spaces.

The initiative encourages a participatory design where children, families, and communities interact socially. It seeks to build strong social interactions, community participation, and the development of a sense of belonging.

The initiative seeks to boost children's physical activity levels by providing them safe and accessible outdoor play and leisure areas. It also emphasizes the role of the built environment in promoting mental health and strives to build environments that contribute to children's overall happiness and quality of life.

The effort connects with larger sustainability objectives by supporting active transportation, minimizing vehicle dependence, promoting environmentally friendly urban planning, and building city infrastructure that emanates from participatory design. It also intends to make the initiative's positive effects available to all children, regardless of socioeconomic status or physical limitations.

+ ACTIONS AND IMPLEMENTATION

The Baguio City Streets for Children initiative successfully implemented numerous critical measures to establish long-term solutions and promote city resilience while tackling multiple interconnected challenges.

The effort focuses on changing streets into safe and child-friendly areas, therefore addressing many concerns simultaneously. The strategy supports active modes of transportation while decreasing congestion, improving air quality, and mitigating climate change by prioritizing pedestrian infrastructure and traffic calming measures. It also promotes communal cohesiveness and social engagement, which benefits mental health and resilience.

The local government evaluates streets in partnership with urban planners and community stakeholders, using factors such as proximity to schools, population density, and safety issues. Target streets are chosen for renovation into child-friendly environments.

With partnerships and collaborations with Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation (GIB) through the Safe and Sound Cities Program, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), the Streets for Children program is being executed over several stages, which include assessing and selecting streets to target, redesigning the chosen streets, conducting pilot projects, and extending and replicating successful initiatives.

The chosen streets are undergoing remodeling procedures to promote pedestrian safety and provide areas conducive to play and social interaction. This may include traffic management measures, sidewalk improvements, crosswalks, and the creation of play spaces.

The initiative usually begins with small-scale pilot projects to explore the impact of design improvements. This enables modifications and enhancements before widespread introduction.

Successful pilot initiatives in Baguio City are expanding to neighboring streets and areas. Lessons gathered from the initial installation ensure that child-friendly streets are replicated effectively throughout the city.

The initiative's implementation requires significant participation and participatory planning procedures with the local government and the community. The Baguio local government works with urban planners, architects, and other key stakeholders to develop child-friendly streets. Workshops, consultations, and feedback mechanisms guarantee that the views and needs of children, families, and community members are considered in decision-making processes.

Monitoring includes gathering information on various features, including pedestrian and vehicular traffic flow, safety issues, air quality, and community comments. This information assesses the initiative's impact on street users and the community.

The initiative's outcomes, which include increased pedestrian activity, community cohesiveness, and children's well-being, are measured using qualitative and quantitative assessment methodologies.

Continuous input is gathered from community members, including children, parents, and local people, to identify issues, accomplishments, and areas for development.

The city government of Baguio plans to institutionalize this initiative as a process in infrastructure development and incorporate child-friendly urban planning concepts into existing policies including land use plans, transportation plans, and zoning restrictions. This helps standardize the method and guarantees that it is considered in future developments.

Local government officials, urban planners, architects, and community stakeholders benefit from training programs and capacity-building activities. This gives them the information and skills to plan and build child-friendly streets in the long run.

The local government distributes resources and receives financing for implementing and maintaining child-friendly streets. Budgeting for regular upkeep, monitoring, and community participation initiatives are all part of this. The city administration works with various stakeholders, including community and non-governmental organizations.

+ OUTCOMES AND IMPACTS

By building safe and inclusive areas, increasing physical and mental well-being, encouraging community cohesiveness, and helping underprivileged and marginalized groups via expanded access and social inclusion, the "Streets for Children" project has generated good outcomes and benefits.

The effort has had several beneficial outcomes that have benefited a variety of stakeholders, including children, families, and communities.

The initiative has resulted in secure and friendly streets that prioritize pedestrian safety and encourage active modes of transportation. It has decreased traffic hazards and established areas for children to freely walk, cycle, and play.

Child-friendly streets have expanded physical exercise options for children, contributing to enhanced health and well-being. Providing secure places for play and social contact has improved their mental health.

The program has aided in community cohesiveness by developing venues for social contact among children, families, and neighbors. It has improved social bonds and a sense of belonging in communities.

The "Streets for Children" initiative's success may be assessed using a variety of measures, including:

Reduced traffic accidents and injuries among youngsters suggest increased road safety.

Better pedestrian and cycling numbers, use of child-friendly infrastructure, and better physical activity levels among youngsters can all indicate success.

Positive feedback, high levels of community satisfaction, and active community participation in the planning and execution processes are success markers.

Several elements impact the initiative's success, including:

Collaboration among local governments, urban planners, community organizations, and other stakeholders is required for successful implementation.

Effective collaboration may aid in mobilizing resources, knowledge, and community support.

Community members' active participation and ownership in the design and implementation stages contribute to the success of child-friendly streets. Participation in the community promotes a sense of duty and sustainability.

Limited financial resources, competing priorities, bureaucratic roadblocks, and reluctance to change can all be challenges. Overcoming these obstacles necessitates efficient coordination, resource mobilization, and long-term stakeholder commitment.

The "Streets for Children" project has considerably helped communities through access to safe places, social inclusion, and active transportation alternatives.

Child-friendly streets provide safe play and social interaction places for children of all backgrounds, particularly those from underprivileged or marginalized groups. This aided in reducing disparities in access to recreation options.

Child-friendly streets encourage social inclusion by making locations accessible and welcoming to all children, regardless of financial status, ethnicity, or ability. It promotes social fairness and provides a sense of belonging.

Child-friendly streets provide alternate mobility alternatives for vulnerable populations with restricted access to private automobiles by prioritizing pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure. This has the potential to increase mobility and access to key services.

+ REPLICABILITY AND SCALABILITY

While the "Streets for Children" initiative was carried out in a specific local context, many features of its strategy are transferable to other environments. The ideas of emphasizing pedestrian safety, developing child-friendly infrastructure, and encouraging community involvement may be applied to various urban locations. However, particular design interventions and methods must be tailored to the local environment to address each community's unique requirements and challenges.

The concept has a fair chance of being scaled up to help additional individuals. The good outcomes and advantages it provides, such as better road safety, community cohesiveness, and physical exercise, make it an appealing model for replication. The effort may include other streets with good planning, teamwork, and resource mobilization.

The "Streets for Children" program is well-suited for replication in various urban contexts, including dense metropolitan regions, school zones, and child-heavy communities. Child-friendly streets may assist places with high population density and little open space by providing alternative settings for children to play and socialize.

Replicating the project in locations around schools improves children's safety and well-being throughout their daily journey and promotes active transportation.

Child-friendly streets may help many families and children in urban areas by providing safe and accessible leisure and community building spaces.

Those who want to replicate the "Streets for Children" project should consider community participation, local adaptation, collaborative partnerships, long-term funding and maintenance, monitoring and evaluation, and policy integration.

Involve community participants in the planning and decision-making, including children, families, and local people. Their viewpoints, needs, and opinions are critical to child-friendly streets' success and long-term viability.

Design interventions and techniques should be tailored to the unique local environment, considering traffic patterns, cultural preferences, and existing infrastructure.

To harness resources, knowledge, and support, form partnerships with local government, urban planners, community organizations, and other stakeholders. Collaboration increases the initiative's scalability and effect.

Create a long-term financial strategy to assist in developing and maintaining child-friendly streets. Consider government budgets, grants, public-private partnerships, and community donations as financing sources.

Implement diligent monitoring and evaluation procedures to analyze the initiative's impact and effectiveness. Collect data on various variables, such as road safety, usage rates, and community satisfaction, to assist decision-making and illustrate the initiative's effectiveness.

Propose that child-friendly urban design ideas be included in city regulations and laws. Incorporating these principles enables the long-term institutionalization of child-friendly streets and their consideration in future urban development.

+ BUDGET AMOUNT

The "Streets for Children" initiative's funding would be $21,000.00 for only one project area. It covers the expenses of two planning and design meetings, capacity building, construction, materials, community participation activities, monitoring and evaluation, and continuing maintenance.