On October 25th, the 2024 Shanghai “For the Children” International Forum is taking place, featuring the establishment of the Children’s Friendly Digital Future Alliance, the inaugural ceremony of the Shanghai International Children’s Friendly Center, and the launch of the “Home + Book House” Family Education Alliance.
This forum encompasses a main session and three sub-forums, focusing on the theme of “Future Cities and Child Development.” It aims to explore the relationship between urban transformation and child development through a variety of dimensions and perspectives, particularly aligning with Shanghai’s commitment to digital and green transformation.
This year marks the fifth anniversary of the “People’s City” concept. Shanghai, as a direct-controlled municipality advancing child-friendly city initiatives, has been continuously enhancing policies supporting children. Officials from the Shanghai Women’s Federation shared with us that numerous child-centered livelihood projects are being expedited, leading to the swift advancement of child-friendly environments. Notably, the “One River, One River” initiative has been established, creating over 170 child-friendly spaces and achieving full coverage in building child-friendly communities.
During the forum, the Shanghai Children’s Friendly Digital Future Alliance was launched, located in Zhangjiang, the core area of the Shanghai International Science and Technology Innovation Center. This alliance will leverage Zhangjiang’s geographic advantage of clustering digital enterprises to attract leading digital companies, top universities, and research institutes. It aims to create educational and scientific activity venues and implement a “3S” plan: building a service ecosystem, creating space carriers, and providing application scenarios. The ultimate vision is to achieve the “3E” goals: enjoying digital life, exploring the digital realm, and empowering a digital future, crafting a new ecological environment where children can fully engage, actively explore, and creatively contribute.
Additionally, the Shanghai International Children’s Friendly Center was unveiled, situated in the Yangpu Riverside area. This center, collaboratively developed by the Shanghai Women and Children’s Work Committee and the Yangpu District Government, serves as a demonstration project for child-friendly public spaces. During the Yangpu sub-forum on the same day, Zhang Hua, Chairperson of the Shanghai Women’s Federation, and Xue Kan, Secretary of the Yangpu District Committee, presented the first batch of child-friendly spaces in Yangpu District. The establishment of these spaces underscores Yangpu’s commitment to creating child-friendly environments, allowing children to enjoy whimsical, safe, and multifunctional spaces close to home, thereby fostering a nurturing ecological environment for their growth.
Zhou Rong, Deputy Secretary of the Yangpu District Committee, highlighted that the district is effectively integrating public space resources along the Yangpu Riverside, planning 25 unique spaces as child-friendly service points. This initiative maps out a “Child-Friendly Map” for the Yangpu Riverside, successfully establishing Yangpu as a model child-friendly community in Shanghai. Next week, the “People’s City: Shanghai Children’s Friendly Activity Week” will officially kick off in Yangpu.
At the Yangpu sub-forum, a showcase area was set up for projects illustrating children’s involvement in urban development. This included exhibitions on child participation project outcomes, intangible cultural heritage works created by children, paintings showcasing the construction of a People’s City, and low-carbon environmental creative projects. These exhibitions aim to depict and celebrate urban development from children’s perspectives, illustrating the beautiful synergy between child growth and urban construction.
Moreover, Shanghai is rolling out the “Home + Book House” Family Education Alliance, along with the publication of a hundred “Home + Book House” city maps. According to the Shanghai Women’s Federation, this initiative marks the budding of a new model for collaborative education between schools, families, and communities. During the forum, landmark buildings in eight core areas—Pudong, Huangpu, Jing’an, Xuhui, Changning, Putuo, Hongkou, and Yangpu—will be illuminated to create a social atmosphere of “child-friendly, everyone-friendly.”
