YOUNG- CHILDREN- CENTERED URBAN POLICY: CASE STUDIES IN NIŠ, SERBIA

Abstract

The paper presented here analyzes two locations for urban interventions according to the principles of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), with the focus on allowing young children and their caregivers to claim public space for their needs and to make these spaces more sustainable for the future urban redevelopment of the city areas that lack basic good health and well-being attributes.

The focus is on developing areas with insufficient urban parks and infrastructure for children and caregivers where there is a lack of identity with the public spaces. By analyzing questionnaires and interviewing caregivers and children, we identified the issues and methodology for solving problems according to the mentioned goals.

The results indicate that models to be applied to the case studies’ locations involve a necessity of Public Private Partnership of the city with local brands and companies, to achieve sustainable physical and social development. The greatest potential for development of the area according to the interviews’ results is in terms of shading and passive design principles. The outcome indicates a serious lack of green spaces in the new plans for the city and inadequate infrastructure for small children in the city. It also designates Čair and the Fortress for the application in terms of urban redevelopment as a tool for making the area a pilot incubator for energy-conscious space and safer neighborhoods for children and caregivers. This indirectly produces high-quality urban areas with children and value of the spaces presented in the paper and those surrounding them in mind.