Streets for Kids looks at cities through the lens of children and their caregivers.
The Streets for Kids program aims to help improve the lives of kids in cities. To do so, we inspire leaders, inform practitioners, and empower communities to understand cities through the lens of children and their caregivers and to take action on their streets to ensure a cleaner, healthier, and safer future.
Since the program’s launch in 2018, GDCI’s Streets for Kids Program has partnered with over thirty cities to support this objective, starting with the publication of the award-winning child-focused design guide Designing Streets for Kids. Since the launch of Designing Streets for Kids, the GDCI team has had the opportunity to partner more closely with cities around the world to bring these strategies and concepts to life. Our support to cities has come in various formats ranging from online training and interactive capacity building sessions to in-depth technical support to aid delivery of Streets for Kids-focused projects on the ground.
We want to see your Streets for Kids in action! Post about your work on Twitter or Instagram and tag @global.streets or use the hashtag #StreetsForKids.
In 2019, GDCI published the award-winning child-focused design guide Designing Streets for Kids. The guide makes design recommendations and highlights case studies that encourage streets to be safe, enjoyable, and inspirational for children and their caregivers.
GDCI applied child-focused strategies in 12 cities through streetscape transformations, workshops, and trainings. Four cities—Fortaleza, Brazil; Kigali, Rwanda; Santiago, Chile; and Tirana, Albania—were selected for in-depth technical assistance and training. Eight additional cities were awarded workshops, where we facilitated in-depth virtual training to advance child-focused street design. The selected cities were Cape Town, South Africa; Colima, Mexico; Kazan, Russia; Lima, Peru; Pasig City (Metro Manila), Philippines; Tbilisi, Georgia; Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA; and Udaipur, India
2022
The GDCI team delivered the first Streets for Kids Leadership Accelerator, which built upon the successes of the program to date. The Leadership Accelerator brought together 60 changemakers from 20 cities worldwide to participate in an eight-month virtual professional leadership program. The program also included the start of several self-paced online training courses open to industry practitioners.
2023
To carry forward the momentum generated through the Leadership Accelerator, 2023 focused on select implementation grants to help carry forward the vision of up to 10 Leadership Accelerator participant cities.
Scaling up Streets for Kids: Highlights from the 2025 Streets for Kids Leadership Accelerator
In 2025, GDCI brought together a selected group of 10 city teams working to scale up their efforts to create more and better Streets for Kids in Brazil, Colombia, and Ecuador through multiple projects, programs, and policies. Here’s a look back and key learnings from a two-month online capacity-building program.
In October 2024, the Streets for Kids project was inaugurated in the Jordão neighborhood in Recife, Brazil, a community where children faced multiple challenges accessing safe and high-quality public spaces. Heavy rains, frequent flooding, and landslide risks often made their journey to school dangerous and unpredictable. Throughout the process, children, caregivers, school staff, and residents were engaged to co-create solutions that improve access to schools, supporte outdoor play and social connection, and set a precedent for future child-focused street transformations in Recife.
Since its launch in 2023, cities around the world have embraced the reverse periscope as a playful tool to reimagine streets from a child’s perspective. From community walkshops to international conferences, the tool is helping spark deeper conversations about child-friendly design. Discover how practitioners are using it to shift perspectives—and shape safer, more joyful streets for kids.
