Making streets work for children

Registrations closed, waiting list open

This event has limited capacity. As it is in person, we envisage spaces will open up. Please sign up to our waiting list. We will also send follow up information post event to all sign ups. If you have signed up but are unable to attend, please let the organisers know so that someone else can take your place. You can cancel your place by emailing sally.watson@newcastle.ac.uk.

Children’s play and mobility: Making streets work for children

This in-person event examines the benefits of bringing children's play and mobility together in policymaking to address multiple urgent challenges - in children's physical and mental health, road danger, the cost of living and the climate crisis.

Children are spending far less time outside and active than previous generations, with severe impacts on their mental and physical health. According to the recent Raising the Nation Play Commission report, road danger is one of the main barriers to outdoor play and children's active travel. This disproportionately impacts those already facing inequalities.

Despite this, children are rarely considered in transport policy beyond the journey to school. The event will therefore examine how adopting a broader approach to children's needs could contribute to creating safer streets for children. Recognising that real change needs a cross-disciplinary approach, we will explore how decision-makers, practitioners and researchers concerned with transport, public health, planning, housing and children can collaborate to make meaningful change.

Why come to this event?

You will hear from experts about the underlying causes of the current crisis in children's health and wellbeing and why there is an urgent need to act. National and local policy makers will outline challenges and opportunities around this. There will be examples of current best practice in the UK and beyond. There will also be ample opportunity to share ideas, experiences and learning about what works and to connect with others working in this area.

Confirmed speakers include: Graham Grant, Deputy CEO and Director of Planning, Development & Strategy, Active Travel England; Alice Ferguson and Ingrid Skeels, Playing Out; Alison Stenning, Newcastle University; Sunil Bhopal, Director of Child Health Research, Born in Bradford & Consultant Community Paediatrician, Northumbria NHS; Dinah Bornat, architect and author of 'All to play for: How to design child friendly housing'; Tim Gill, expert on children's play and mobility and author of 'Urban Playground: How child-friendly planning and design can save cities'. Dulce Pedroso, University of Westminster; Tim Burns, Sustrans. Full agenda to follow.

Target audience

• National and local policymakers in transport, public health, children's play
• Built environment professionals and third sector organisations working in public health, active travel, planning and housing
• Researchers focusing on children’s rights and wellbeing, play and active travel

This event is a collaboration between Newcastle University's School of Architecture, Planning & Landscape and national social change organisation Playing Out (https://playingout.net/). It is supported by the Centre for Children and Youth and Centre for Mobility and Transport and funded through grants from UKRI ESRC (ES/Z504002/1), Newcastle University’s UKRI ESRC IAA Fund and HaSS Faculty Impact Fund.

Event follow up/ next steps

We will be sending out key findings and actions from the day to everyone who has signed up, including the waiting list. Please email sally.watson@newcastle.ac.uk if for some reason you are unable to sign up to the event or waiting list and would like this information.

Please note, Playing Out is planning to host a larger in person event in February 2026, where the conversation about children’s outdoor play and freedom and what we can do to change things will continue.