Exactly thirty years ago, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This document emphasises the legal protection of children and their right to education, healthcare and a safe environment. Over the past few decades, this latter aspect has developed into a genuine movement, which explicitly focuses on the quality of children’s built environment – often in consultation with the children themselves, and supported by UNICEF’s international Child-Friendly Cities programme.

In Basel, Switzerland, for example, the Kinderbüro has been in existence for over twenty years; an organisation which – in collaboration with children, local authorities, schools and public institutions – provides advice and support in the design and creation of a child-friendly environment. The Kinderbüro has since grown into a national player which, thanks to participatory processes in which children participate as experts, helps shape the city in which children and young people grow up.