November 8, 2019 | From City of New Orleans
Office of Youth and Families to Share Citywide Goals for a Child-Friendly New Orleans at Neighborhood Summit
NEW ORLEANS — The Mayor’s Office of Youth and Families (OYF) is excited to present “Goals for a Child-Friendly New Orleans” at the Neighborhood Summit on Saturday, Nov. 9. For the past nine months OYF has been working closely with global design and engineering firm, Arup, PlayBuild and Tulane University on a vision for a child-friendly New Orleans that was generated through a collaborative workshop with New Orleans youth leadership, community representatives, and a range of city agencies and organizations in July. Residents will learn more by participating in the upcoming Youth Voices in Infrastructure workshop.
Children stand to be disproportionately impacted by the decisions made today regarding climate change, transportation, safety, economic opportunity, and public health. However, urban planning has not traditionally prioritized children’s needs. A child-friendly design effort in New Orleans would respond to the needs of the youth, who represent over 25 percent of the city’s population.
The “Goals for a Child-friendly New Orleans” publication includes a comprehensive set of recommendations across four themes: safety, nature and sustainability, health and well-being, and stronger communities. Building upon existing city and non-profit initiatives that are currently underway, “Goals for a Child-Friendly New Orleans” offers a framework for all stakeholders to streamline efforts around a common vision.
“When we design a New Orleans that truly puts children’s interests first, we create a New Orleans that shows love to all her people,” said Mayor LaToya Cantrell.
The project seeks to mobilize city leadership to think beyond playgrounds when it comes to urban design. The “Goals for a Child-Friendly New Orleans” publication highlights opportunities to design and build a network of places and spaces for children that are sensitive to their physical development and everyday needs.
PlayBuild Founder Angela Kyle said, “The convergence of the Cantrell administration’s focus on youth and families and the significant volume of infrastructure investment poised to happen over the next several years creates the potential for New Orleans to reinvent the built environment in a way that improves measurable outcomes for kids. This is an opportunity for generational impact, and we are excited to partner with the City, Arup, and the Tulane School of Architecture on the child-friendly cities initiative.”
Margaret Newman, Principal, Arup, said, “We congratulate the City of New Orleans for being one of the first cities in the U.S. to prioritize children by creating the Office of Youth and Families. With our accomplished partners — PlayBuild and Tulane — Arup is excited to bring our research and strategy to explore in real time the broader themes of public health, sustainability, resilience and safety to realize with the City of New Orleans a child-friendly city. Arup has been working in cities around the world to develop prototypes for how infrastructure and design can support the planning and building of cities to support the needs of people of all ages.”
Casius Pealer, Director of Tulane’s Master of Sustainable Real Estate Development, said, “Over 20 percent of New Orleans residents are under 18 years old, meaning that none of them have a formal vote in our political decisions and planning processes — yet we need those residents to love and enjoy New Orleans as much as the other 80 percent of us do. From a real estate development perspective, Mayor Cantrell’s commitment to a child-friendly New Orleans means that our City is ripe for major long term physical investment, emotional investment, and yes financial investment.”
The Neighborhood Summit, produced by the Mayor’s Neighborhood Engagement Office, will be held Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the University Medical Center Conference Room (second floor) at 2000 Canal St.
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About Arup
Arup provides consulting, planning, engineering, and design services for the most prominent projects and sites in the built environment. Since its founding in 1946, the firm has consistently delivered technical excellence, innovation, and value to its clients, while maintaining its core mission of shaping a better world. The firm opened its first North American office over 30 years ago and now employs 1,700 people in the Americas and more than 14,000 people in 88 offices across 33 countries. The firm's employee-ownership structure promotes independence, unbiased advice, and ongoing investment in joint research to yield better outcomes that benefit its clients and partners. Visit Arup's website, www.arup.com, and the report: Cities Alive: Designing Urban Childhoods: https://www.arup.com/perspectives/publications/research/section/cities-alive-designing-for-urban-childhoods
About PlayBuild
PlayBuild is a 501c3 non-profit based in New Orleans Central City neighborhood. PlayBuild’s mission is to transform urban spaces into dynamic play and learning environments to empower kids to design their futures. In 2013 PlayBuild turned a vacant lot at 2828 Thalia St. into an outdoor classroom for hands-on educational activities focused on design, architecture, and engineering. Led by a five-member Community Board of Central City residents, PlayBuild hosts after-school sessions and weekend family events as well as pop-up play activities. Since inception PlayBuild has engaged with more than 6,000 children citywide. In April of 2019, PlayBuild was awarded the Zurich Classic Community Impact Award for the organization’s efforts in neighborhood development and youth enrichment. For more information visit: www.playbuild.org. You can follow PlayBuild on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/PlayBuild, and on Twitter at @PlayBuild_NOLA.
About the Tulane School of Architecture
Established in 1907, the Tulane School of Architecture works in the heart of the Gulf Coast and around the globe to provide students with a world-class education in architecture, preservation and sustainable real estate development. These programs, from undergraduate to graduate levels, at the Tulane School of Architecture provide future graduates with the basic intellectual, cultural and technical skills needed to be relevant in reversing social inequalities and ecological disruptions. The school’s teaching and research advance the fields in the most relevant topics of today, such as climate change, coastal and riparian crisis, the process of urbanization under these circumstances, and the challenges for social and environmental justice. The Master of Sustainable Real Estate Development has a unique forward-looking approach to sustainable development that is urgently needed. For more information, visit architecture.tulane.edu.
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