To ensure that the Brussels municipality of Saint-Gilles takes the needs of children into account when drawing up its local mobility plan, the La Ville aux Enfants collective will organise a symbolic action on Wednesday evening.
For International Children's Rights Day today, "The City for Children" collective (La ville aux Enfants/De Stad voor Kinderen) is organising a symbolic action in support of an ambitious mobility plan that could improve the quality of life of children in Saint-Gilles.
"A good city for children is a good city for everyone," the collective said "Policymakers in Saint-Gilles must take children's interests into account and draw up a mobility plan that ensures their safety and encourages their autonomy."
A public consultation on the draft Local Mobility Contract will take place on Wednesday evening at the Maison du Peuple/Volkshuis, and while over 8,600 of Saint-Gilles' 50,000 inhabitants are under 18, they will not have a say in the process.
Inhibiting children's autonomy
That is why La Ville aux Enfants is organising an event to bring together the dreams and wishes of children and young people on how to create a safer and more liveable Saint-Gilles.
Every day, an average of 14 children are involved in road accidents on their way to and from school due to inappropriate facilities and behaviour. In Brussels, 64% of these victims are children on foot, according to Vias figures.
Increasingly often, this results in parents inhibiting their children's autonomy to go to school, to friends or to the sports club by themselves, for fear they will be hit. Additionally, due to their still-growing lungs, the youngest children are also the first victims of the often poor air quality in the city.
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According to La Ville aux Enfants, a well-designed mobility plan is an opportunity to radically and quickly improve the situation.
The collective calls on Saint-Gilles policymakers to implement an ambitious mobility plan and stressed that the current proposal is a minimum that needs to be strengthened to ensure improved road safety through safer infrastructure, generalised use of school streets, a generalised pedestrian zone where possible, air quality that finally meets WHO recommendations, and sufficient space for play and green spaces.
