Situating children's lives in coastal cities: Prospects and challenges in urban planning in five Southeast Asian cities

This paper examines children's context in Southeast Asian coastal cities. Through a document analysis, this paper examines City Context Reports from five Southeast Asian coastal cities (Surabaya, Iskandar, Melaka, Cebu and Ho Chi Minh) and identifies opportunities and challenges to urban child friendliness. The results indicate a mixture of achievements and challenges in terms of child-friendly coastal cities. The identified challenges and potentials in Southeast Asian cities shape an urban fabric characterized by the urban sprawl combined with the geographic vulnerabilities of coastal cities. While the challenges of urbanization in Southeast Asian coastal cities are massive, so are the opportunities. As a way forward, this work proposes a framework for child-friendly coastal cities in Southeast Asia, with emphasis on: (1) child-oriented urban policy design, (2) urban policy assessment through participatory research with children, and (3) educational programs for coastal resilience. This work hopes for further dialogues toward an inclusive urban future in the Global South.