City leaders, funders, and experts convened at the second Start With Children Summit in Bratislava, Slovakia, to share how cities can deliver better ways for children to live, move, learn, and play.

The conference emphasised the importance of putting children and their wellbeing at the heart of urban planning and design, including housing, transport and mobility, and outdoor spaces. The summit was organised by the City of Bratislava and the Metropolitan Institute of Bratislava,  supported by the FIA Foundation.

The Child Health Initiative (CHI) hosted an informal breakfast networking session ahead of the summit kick-off, bringing together partners, organisations, and city representatives to learn, exchange, and explore synergies for future collaboration.

The FIA Foundation co-hosted the ‘Financing the Future: European Mayor’s Alliance for Children Toolkit’ session with EIT Urban Mobility and Capita, bringing European city leaders and funders together to explore ways in which cities can invest in their children. FIA Foundation Child and Youth Health Director Atsani Ariobowo opened the session alongside Bratislava Mayor Matúš Vallo, Start With Children Head of Creative Committee Simon Battisti, EIT Urban Mobility Head of City Partnerships Julienne Chen, and Capita CEO Joe Waters. The session showcased examples from Riga, Milan, Bratislava, London, Varna, Žilina, Kharkiv, Budapest, Cluj, and Athens on how they include children and parents in making the budgeting case for child-friendly projects. The roundtable discussion also explored ways to overcome capacity and financing challenges. 

CHI hosted a panel session on ‘Protecting Children’s Journey to School: Advocating for Safer and Sustainable Active Mobility’ moderated by FIA Foundation’s Atsani Ariobowo. The session showcased Central and Eastern Europe programmes and advocacy which have led to safer and more sustainable mobility for children with CHI partners the Eastern Alliance for Safe and Sustainable Transport (EASST), and the Global Designing Cities Initiative (GDCI), and Fundația Crucea Albă (FCA) Romania.

FIA Foundation Child and Youth Health Director Atsani Ariobowo said: “A city that works for children works for everyone. There are so many fantastic examples of cities, NGOs and funders coming together to reimagine what urban life can be. The FIA Foundation is pleased to help convene this event and to support such an engaging and innovative space for sharing case studies and ideas.”