A Planning Revolution in Bratislava Puts Kids at the Center
An effort to make the Slovakian capital more welcoming for children and families reflects the city’s long-term resource and population challenges.
Bratislava’s recent focus on child well-being in city planning is in part a response to concerns about brain drain in Slovakia.
Photo: Courtesy of Metropolitan Institute Bratislava
The center of Bratislava doesn’t necessarily look like a place that needs a child-friendly makeover. A handsome city of just under half a million straddling the River Danube, Slovakia’s capital already has a gentle, stroller-friendly heart, full of car-free 18th century lanes and tree-lined promenades that, on sunny afternoons, teem with kids chasing each other or crying over dropped ice creams. Trams, buses and trolleybuses haul families to and fro, while easily accessible woodlands on hills and river banks are visible from many points across the city.
Still, Bratislava is launching a city-wide effort to focus its planning and development around the needs of children, in the hopes of delivering a city that’s greener, cleaner and safer — as well as speeding progress on contentious issues such as reducing car access or managing suburban sprawl. “A city that’s friendly toward children is friendly toward everyone,” Mayor Matúš Vallo told Bloomberg CityLab.