In 2022, the Street for Kids program launched its first-ever Leadership Accelerator, bringing 60 city leaders from 20 countries to a six-month training. After completing the accelerator, GDCI invited the teams to apply for a seed grant of 20,000 USD and year-long technical assistance to implement their vision of creating safe, attractive, and inspiring streets for kids in their cities. In April 2023, ten cities across four continents were selected to bring their visions to life: Abuja, Nigeria; Cuenca, Ecuador; Istanbul, Turkey; Leon, Mexico; Lima, Peru; Lusaka, Zambia; Recife, Brazil; Santiago, Chile; Solo, Indonesia; Tyre, Lebanon.
The Streets for Kids “Sukaria” project in Solo focused on transforming the area around SMP Muhammadiyah 1 Surakarta School to create safer streets and more inclusive environments for students. Situated near the city center and Surakarta City Hall, the project was strategically chosen for its potential to inspire broader urban improvements.
The project addressed the challenges of narrow, overcrowded streets that caused congestion and safety concerns. Through co-design workshops involving students and neighborhood children, the project redesigned two streets to benefit over 500 students and residents. The redesign included creating pedestrian pathways, adding new crossings, and integrating traffic-calming measures.
The transformation also featured temporary street paintings on Flores Street to establish a shared street for pedestrians and vehicles, and a new seating area in front of the school, complete with a green canopy and vibrant murals.
This project not only empowered children’s aspirations and introduced urban inclusivity concepts but also strengthened community connections and ensured accessibility and safety for all ages and abilities.
Watch the video documenting the SUKARIA project:
To learn more about designing streets for kids in your city, download the Designing Streets for Kids guide, now available in multiple languages.
The Streets for Kids Reverse Periscope is a do-it-yourself tool that encourages planners, city officials, and others to experience the obstacles and attractions of city streets from a child’s perspective.
As part of a collaboration between Agenzia Mobilità Ambiente Territorio (AMAT), Bloomberg Associates and the Global Designing Cities Initiative, the City of Milan has developed an innovative public space program named Piazze Aperte or “Open squares.”
These handbooks distill GDCI’s experience implementing and evaluating street transformation projects in cities around the world, and are an important step in changing the decades-long embedded practice of implementing and evaluating street transformations from a car-centric point of view.
