The Proximity
of Care
Design Guide
The Proximity of Care Design Guide was developed by Arup and the Bernard van Leer Foundation to support the design and implementation of child- and family friendly interventions in vulnerable urban environments, with benefits for the entire community.
Picture by Civic
Arup and the Bernard van Leer Foundation have combined their design and planning expertise and knowledge of early childhood development to produce the Proximity of Care Design Guide.
The Guide builds upon the Bernard van Leer Foundation’s Urban95 initiative, which asks a bold but simple question:
If you could experience the city from 95cm – the height of a 3-year-old – what would you change?
The Design Guide seeks to answer this question by helping professionals and decision makers operating in informal and refugee settlements to design and implement cost-effective interventions that improve the living conditions and well-being of young children, their caregivers and pregnant women, with benefits for the entire community.
A good start in life for the youngest urban residents is one of the best investments a city can make.
The Guide sections – Understand, Design, and Influence provide guiding principles, working tools, best practice examples and recommendations, which can be used to assess, design and build healthy, protective, stimulating and supportive environments for young children’s optimal development; and to advocate for child and family friendly interventions in vulnerable urban contexts. The Get Inspired section provides best practice examples of relevant projects from around the globe.
Understand
The design of effective interventions begins with understanding.
Explore a library of guiding principles, assessment tools, and best-practice examples, to help you better understand the needs and constraints of young children, their caregivers and pregnant women in your project area; and how various urban systems relate to children’s developmental needs. This knowledge will help you inform the design of your interventions.
Design
Make effective design choices.
Explore our library of guiding principles, co-creation tools, design solutions, and best-practice examples, to help you make informed design choices and optimise your projects for creating effective and context sensitive interventions. This will enable lasting positive change for the whole community.
Influence
Advocate for early childhood development in vulnerable urban contexts.
Explore our library to get the support you need for influencing professionals and decision makers, on the need for and the benefits of child- and family-friendly interventions in vulnerable urban contexts, based on the understanding that a good start in life for the youngest is one of the best investments a city can make.
Get Inspired
Explore a selection of best-practice examples of projects from around the globe to get new ideas on how to solve challenges for early childhood development in vulnerable urban contexts.
