Kid-Friendly Cities

	Carol Bellamy, executive director of the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund. UNICEF was in charge of the UN Special Session on Children in May. (Photo: Suzanne Freeman)

"We want to live in a world where there is enough green land for us to play on."
—Jim Ling Yan, 18, Shangai, China

By Dara Sharif

The needs of children are often overlooked amid the hustle and bustle of big cities, according to UNICEF, which is pushing to make cities across the globe "child friendly."

UNICEF is the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund. It was the lead organization of the first-ever United Nations (UN) Special Session on Children. Creating kid-friendly cities was one of the many issues tackled during the three-day conference at UN headquarters in New York City. People from all over the world attended.

Jin Ling Yan, an 18-year-old high school student from Shanghai, China, represented the world's children at a panel discussion about making cities better places to live for children.

"We want to live in a world where there is enough green land for us to play on," Jin Ling said. "We want a world where everybody can go to school . . . a world where children get plenty of affection and attention and love from their parents."

In a child-friendly city, kids also have time to play, Jin Ling said.

Poverty, overpopulation, pollution, and lack of money for schooling are some of the problems kids in big cities often face, said Jin Ling. Kids end up living on the streets, where they can be mistreated, bullied, and forced to commit crimes or take drugs.

"We hope that in a modern city there will be no pollution of the water or the air, and society will be free of violence and crime," Jin Ling said.

UNICEF's executive director Carol Bellamy says adults have to care about the lives of children because children are the future.

Children "are not an expense; (they) are an investment," Bellamy said.