Urban95 Academy expands to Latin America with first regional hub

*This story originally appeared on the Urban95 Academy Website.

The regional expansion of the Urban95 Academy into Latin America will provide more local governments the ability to build capacity around inclusive, sustainable, child-friendly urban design. It will also create more opportunities to share knowledge, and collaborate with other cities around the priorities of creating urban spaces where young children and their caregivers can thrive.

This ground-breaking new Latin America programme is possible through a collaboration between Tecnológico de Monterrey, a leading academic institution in Mexico and philanthropic partner Fundacion FEMSA, whose mission is to cultivate prosperity for current and future generations in Latin America.

Together with LSE Cities and the Van Leer Foundation, the four institutions will be able to provide a tailored experience for Latin American municipalities with course content offered in Spanish, region-specific case studies, faculty and knowledge partners.

Jose Antonio Torre, Director of the Center for the Future of Cities at Tec de Monterrey explains the usefulness of education in shaping future solution:

“Cities are key places to address inequalities and confront the effects of climate change. We firmly believe in the power of education as a tool for change, fostering solutions for transforming cities into sustainable and inclusive environments for children and all people. We are very excited to be part of this collaboration between LSE Cities, Van Leer Foundation, and FEMSA Foundation, as we join forces for the Urban95 Academy program open for urban leaders in Latin America.”

Sindy González Tijerina, the Early Childhood Manager at Fundacion FEMSA says the collaboration will help to further their mission of bringing different groups and individuals together to create a bright future for Latin American cities:

“We are excited about this collaboration with the Van Leer Foundation, LSE, and Tec de Monterrey. We are convinced that training city leaders to create better cities for young children and their caregivers is key to achieving a more prosperous, equitable and sustainable Latin America. Also, as part of our vision, we believe in promoting collective action by fostering collaboration, dialogue, and partnerships in order to gather resources, knowledge, and influence to achieve common goals.”

Katie Beck Policy Fellow at LSE Cites and the Urban95 Academy Programme Manager, says the large demand from the region through the first 8 cohorts of Academy shows strong appetite for this type of knowledge:

“More than 100 cities from Latin America representing Argentia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru, have already taken part in the global programme and have accounted for over 30% of all global applications. This demonstrates the consistent and enthusiastic demand for knowledge around child-friendly urban policy and planning as well as a desire to connect with other municipalities that share common goals in the region.”

Data collected from previous global cohorts have shown both the pressing issues and large opportunities of supporting young children and caregivers in Latin American cities. Recurrent topics include a focus on challenges in the physical environment, mobility, policy and governance, citing specific issues around lack of access to public and play spaces, unsafe roads and traffic incidents and lack of proximity to public services.

In the first 8 cohorts of the Academy over 88 mayors and 29 deputy mayors from around the world completed the programme. A number of inspiring stories of how these leaders are engaging with early childhood development at both a personal and policy level have emerged from the programme.

Paula Schild Mascarenhas, Mayor of Pelotas, Brazil completed the Urban95 Academy in 2023. She says that once her eyes were opened to the idea, she saw how raising the needs of young children was central to improving the city for all:

“It became crystal clear that early childhood should be our top priority at the city level. Armed with this new perspective, we created a new focus within our city government, making Pelotas a child-friendly city.”

Claudio Castro, Mayor of Renca, Chile participated in the first cohort of the Urban95 Academy. He has made Growing in Renca, a social policy designed to support babies in the year they are born, a central pillar of his administration. He says thinking holistically about children in the city has had huge impact for him:

“You can have a lot of very nice programmes focused on small populations or specific neighborhoods. But for the whole territory of Renca–a whole generation–to be connected under Growing in Renca? That’s new. We are starting with the idea that no one stays behind. Everyone can have access to these programmes. Urban95 has changed how we think.”

Rushda Majeed, Chief Programme Officer of the Van Leer Foundation reflects on the impact the the programme has had so far in Latin America and the potential the expanded offer will have:

“Latin American cities have been powerful leaders, advocates, and partners in the Urban95 initiative. Many mayors and their teams have prioritised ambitious plans, interventions, and policies that centre the needs of young children, parents and other caregivers, transforming public spaces, expanding affordable mobility, integrating critical services, and generously sharing insights with peer cities. The first Urban95 regional hub will build on their leadership and expertise, offering a chance for more leaders to join the movement towards creating cities where the wellbeing of families is at the centre of local government decision-making.”

The Urban95 Academy is a fully-funded executive education programme for municipal leaders worldwide to learn and develop strategies to make cities better for babies, toddlers and their caregivers. The programme was first launched in 2021 by LSE Cities and the Van Leer Foundation. To date over 1,000 municipal leaders representing over 280 cities from 75 countries have participated in the Academy.