Bringing nature to children in disadvantaged urban communities
Nature, when combined with the enthusiasm and creativity of children, can transform inner-city wastelands into spaces for people.
Previously neglected urban space transformed into a green place for play and socialising (Photo: Shruti Maliwar, WRI India)
Nearby trees, parks, gardens, green schoolyards and other urban green spaces are not just ‘nice to have’, they are ‘need to have’ resources for health and wellbeing. This is the message of a recent UNICEF report.
Compared to young people who live in barren areas, children and teens who have access to trees and green spaces near their homes for play and recreation, experience greater wellbeing on multiple measures. These include more physical activity, better concentration and academic performance, fewer behavioural and social problems, better mental health, and more positive moods. They cope better with adversity too.
Benefits of time in nature extend to adults too. Because residents in greener neighbourhoods are more likely to spend time outdoors, they form stronger neighbourhood ties and show greater social cohesion. Crime and violence decline when greening initiatives are introduced.
A call from the United Nations
In 2023, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child issued General Comment 26 on ‘children’s rights and the environment, with a special focus on climate change’. This is binding on all nations that have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
It requires that: ‘States shall take effective legislative, administrative and other measures to ensure that all children, without discrimination, are able to play and engage in recreational activities in safe, clean and healthy environments, including parks, natural spaces and playgrounds’. It also asks public planning to include children’s views on the creation of environments to promote their wellbeing.
Low-income families and families of disadvantaged colours, castes and ethnic groups are most likely to live in districts devoid of nature. Widely-used planning guidelines – such as situating a park within a prescribed walking radius from residential neighborhoods – fail to address all the barriers that they face.
Recent research with adolescents in marginalised communities in India and the Philippines found that they highly valued trees, parks, gardens and waterfronts, but they were largely excluded – especially girls.
Professor Lyndsey Deaton, who led the research, observed that: “Prevailing international guidelines for green-space access disregard the nuanced needs of children in low-income communities where they are restricted by layers of fear, social norms and gatekeepers.”
So how can urban greening bring nature into the lives of girls and boys, the young and the old, in disadvantaged communities? The following example shows that it can be done successfully by working cooperatively with communities and actively involving children.
Targeted ‘greening’ led by children
The Mumbai Climate Action Plan sets the target of increasing the city’s green cover to 40% by 2030, ensuring equitable access to green open spaces, and restoring and enhancing biodiversity.
To assist the city in achieving these goals World Resources Institute India (WRI India) used satellite imagery to map the slums and informal settlements to identify those with the lowest vegetation index and highest heat stress.
It engaged with diverse stakeholders to nurture greening in targeted, vulnerable neighbourhoods, and partnered with the Garden Department and Tree Authority at Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Tata Institute of Social Sciences and Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA).
One pilot site is Lallubhai Compound, a slum resettlement in the multi-dimensionally deprived M East ward – the most neglected ward in Mumbai in terms of infrastructure and human development. A group of 16 apartment buildings at the southern tip of the compound had an unsafe central open space called Lal Maidan and some neglected peripheral open spaces. This cluster was chosen for greening intervention.
The barren landscape before the team got to work (Photo: Shruti Maliwar, WRI India)
Here, WRI India and its partner YUVA, which have a long history of working in the community, teamed up to turn these derelict spaces into community assets.
YUVA started by conducting placemaking workshops with children and young people to make the peripheral open spaces greener and child-friendly. The children’s designs primarily focused on planting more trees, brightly painting the long wall, and including more lighting and seating.
Space for nature, and people
Thirteen planting sites were located and a naturalist was brought on board to help the community select and care for native plants. About 30 children participated in tree planting. They fashioned tree guards out of bamboo, rope and green cloth to protect each newly-planted tree.
The residents in the apartments that overlooked the project site took charge of the watering schedule, though children on their way back from school would empty their water bottles at the base of the plants or bring buckets of water from home as well. The community engaged with the local solid waste management crew to ensure they swept the site every other day.
The sexual harassment, drug abuse and fights that previously plagued these spaces declined – bringing in more children and women to enjoy their new green public space. To build on this, YUVA organised structured and unstructured games for children every evening.
Young people’s desire for a brightly painted area led to employing a youth artist who helped them design and execute murals to enliven the space. The larger Lal Maidan site is targeted for the next intervention – already approved by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Council.
Children painting a wall (Photo: Sagar Reddy, Bal Adhikar Sangharsh Sanghatana)
The lessons of greening gained here were shared in a city-level workshop in October 2023 to strengthen partnerships to implement and sustain these nature-based solutions for quality open spaces in vulnerable urban communities across Mumbai, explore institutional mechanisms to support collaborations, and mobilise financing for long-term environmental and social benefits.
Concluding thoughts
The UNICEF report ‘The Necessity of Urban Green Space for Children’s Optimal Development’, and General Comment 26 of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child outline recommendations for communities, and municipal and national governments. A fundamental first step is creating spaces where children, women and all local residents feel safe.
Children and their communities are the experts in co-designing spaces where they feel safe, and which are accessible and attractive. UNICEF, the World Health Organization and UN-Habitat are collaborating to develop guidelines for public spaces that reflect children’s insights, with a stronger focus on informal settlements and humanitarian settings.
For more information on work by YUVA, Action for Children’s Environments Trust and UNICEF on their programme for creating safe outdoor spaces in slums in India, as well as a guidebook for participatory community design and action with young people, read Sudeshna Chatterjee’s case study, ‘Promoting Safe Communities: Bhopal and Mumbai, India,’ in Placemaking with Children and Youth: Participatory Practices for Planning Sustainable Communities (2018), winner of the 2019 Achievement Award from the Environmental Design Research Association.
The authors deeply appreciate the materials provided by Deepti Talpade on the Mumbai greening experience that greatly helped in writing this article.
