Regional government officials and experts gathered to discuss child-friendly urban planning at a forum organized by UNICEF Korea on Friday.

A consultative group of regional governments held the forum with the UNICEF Korea Committee at a children’s culture center theater in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province.

Opening the forum, Tim Gill, a UK-based children’s rights specialist, explained that creating a child-friendly city starts from understanding how children view cities. He stressed that it was time to make efforts shift away from adult-centered urban planning to an approach that would raise the quality of life for children.

Ju Beom, a construction engineering professor at Konkuk University said child-friendly urban planning meant planning a city where children can live safely without being exposed to unwanted dangers, highlighting the importance of providing safe streets, buildings and playgrounds.

Introducing a project creating an open square in Gunsan and a forest in Jeonju that she co-organized with UNICEF Korea, Kim Ah-yeon, a landscape architecture professor at the University of Seoul, also elaborated on the need for and the effect of creating child-friendly areas in cities.

“We request all regional governments to stand in the vanguard in creating happier living environment for children, and would like to say that all leaders and officials promoting child-friendly urban planning are patriots undertaking the national task resolving the low birth rate issue,” Lee said. Lee Ki-cheol, the secretary general of UNICEF Korea.

By Jo He-rim (herim@heraldcorp.com)