Proximity of Care Design Guide: design and implementation of child- and family friendly interventions in vulnerable urban environments, with benefits for the entire community.

Arup and the Bernard van Leer Foundation have combined their design and planning expertise and knowledge of early childhood development to produce the Proximity of Care Design Guide. The Guide builds upon the Bernard van Leer Foundation’s Urban95 initiative, which asks a bold but simple question: 

If you could experience the city from 95cm – the height of a 3-year-old – what would you change?

The Design Guide seeks to answer this question by helping professionals and decision makers operating in informal and refugee settlements to design and implement cost-effective interventions that improve the living conditions and well-being of young children, their caregivers and pregnant women, with benefits for the entire community.   A good start in life for the youngest urban residents is one of the best investments a city can make.