Scott Doyon, a parent and an urbanist, argues that the suburban model isn't doing kids any favors. But, he says, designing urban areas that are kid-friendly is still a challenge.
Doyon writes:
"These are folks who realize that, for a child, having increasing opportunities to navigate the world around them, explore, invent, fall down, scrape knees, make decisions, screw up, get into - and solve - conflicts and, ultimately, achieve a sense of personal identity and self-sufficiency is a good thing. The right thing."
Doyon talks about Vancouver, a city that worked hard to be family-friendly but still has managed to not attract families in significant numbers to the city center:
"Talk of how it takes a village to raise a child sounds - and feels - good but, to make it work, you need a village to start with. Which means you need politicos willing to allow it, and developers willing to build it.'
Thanks to Hazel Borys
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Placer County
Mayors' Institute on City Design
City of Sunnyvale
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Cornell University's College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (AAP), the Department of City and Regional Planning (CRP)
Lehigh Valley Planning Commission
City of Portland, ME
Baton Rouge Area Foundation