In 1989, the UN established the Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), a legally binding agreement protecting every child’s civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights.
Cities must integrate these rights into their architecture, planning, and functions. Children deserve equal consideration in design, ensuring urban spaces truly serve all ages. To achieve this, cities need dedicated policies for child-inclusive architecture.
We are a group of Norwegian professionals gathered on a simple yet fundamental belief: since the earliest civilizations, cities have been shaped primarily according to adults’ architectural principles while the perspectives and needs of children have largely been overlooked.
Children’s needs in the city extend far beyond playgrounds or designated gathering spaces; they encompass the entire urban environment and all its components. This means that architecture and urban planning must be developed based on children’s principles, given equal importance to those of adults.
We are committed to generating new knowledge and practices that place children on equal footing with adults in the fields of architecture, urban design, town planning, landscape architecture, and urban development. To achieve this, we will function as an arena to gather different actors to discuss children architecture and urban development. That will raise awareness among urban stakeholders about the importance of child-centered architecture.
Our aim is to establish a solid platform for integrating children's architectural perspectives into the planning and development of Norwegian cities.This broad and holistic approach requires collaboration across multiple sectors, including state authorities, municipalities, universities, organizations, and research institutions.
Organisasjonen for Barnas byarkitektur (OBBA)/Organization of Cities Architecture for Children (CAC) is based in Norway. The board consists of Norwegian professional members who belong to different fields within urban development and act as professional volunteers. The organization has also an International Professional Committee IPC who assists the Board as a scientific advising committee and international quality control.
The board is responsible for the long term of all activities and events. We aim to make agreements with cities of Norway to realize the events and activities. OBBA will hire event manager to organize events in practical, organizational and financial ways. This event manager is a multimedia organization with broad experience with communication and the organization of events.
Our major activities are conferences, seminars. These activities focus on strengthening cities’ capacities to create inclusive,engaging, and age-appropriate city architecture that support children's physical, social, and emotional well-being.
Our ultimate goal from arranging these activities and events is to work in partnership with all cities and stakeholders to embed children’s architecture into their professional practices contributing to the creation of new and more inclusive urban realities across Norwegian cities. This, in turn, can serve as a catalyst for new pathways in social development, economic growth, and sustainable urban transformation.n and the energy to tackle new challenges with confidence.
The city is a space for children to learn
The city provides children with all their health needs
The city architecture supports psychology of the children of all ages and conditions
The city provides the children with natural environments and landscapes
The city provides children with continuous growth possibilities
The city preserves the safety of children through more careful urban planning
Become a Giver
We are a non-profit organization and managed by professionals who work for free. Therefore, we are totally dependent on financial support from all givers to realize the organization’s targets. We encourage and welcome all financial support that can support the continuity of our work.
Become a Host City
We encourage cities to benefit from CAC to develop knowledge and measures that support children architecture in their cities. Arranging the events in a particular city will provide the city with important scientific platform to discuss the local condition, needed policies, initiatives and projects.
We will help your city to benefit from the event to attract local and international partners and investors by a well-organized marketing media.
A movement that promotes inclusive urban planning and architecture that takes children’s needs and rights into account. It advocates for developing city architecture based on children principles equal to the adults to make the city a place for all needs.
Children are often overlooked in urban planning. Designing for them ensures more inclusive, healthy, and livable cities for everyone.
We conduct research, publish insights, collaborate with other professionals, and advocate for policies that prioritize child-friendly urban spaces.
Yes! Whether you’re an architect, urban planner, educator, government official or simply passionate about building better cities, reach out. We welcome collaboration.
We’re building a portfolio of case studies and ideas. Get in touch to see how others are applying these principles.