Bruges (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The Bruges city council introduces the Child Test to consult children on streets and squares, applying 9 safety principles. Mayor Dirk De Fauw leads this Flemish first initiative.
As VRT News reported, the Bruges city council will now ask children for their opinions on the redesign of squares, streets, and other traffic projects. This follows the city’s poverty test and accessibility test. The new Child Test will check if public space plans truly benefit children. Bruges is the 1st city in Flanders to apply the Flemish child standard in its urban policy.
“When changes are made to a particular street, we’ll consult with the children who live there,”
explains Mayor Dirk De Fauw (CD&V).
“If something changes at a school, we’ll meet with the teachers and management to hear whether the proposed measure is a good fit, or if the children would prefer things to be different.”
How is Bruges using the Child Test and the 9 principles to make streets safer?
The Child Test is based on 9 key principles aimed at safety and child-friendly design. These include involving children and parents, making infrastructure clear and readable, and providing safe crossings with speed limits. It also focuses on car-free streets as living spaces, consistent enforcement of traffic rules, separate paths for cyclists and pedestrians, proper lighting, clear orientation points, and traffic education for children.
The concept of child-friendly urban planning started in 2010. It focused on designing public spaces for vulnerable groups, including children, the elderly, and people with limited mobility. In 2014, several European cities, including Bruges, began using these ideas in public space projects to make streets safer and more inclusive. By 2020, the Flemish child standard was officially adopted across Flanders as a guideline for urban planning.
