1. ¹School of Architecture, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
2. ²'Urban Knowledge Management and Talented Affairs', Municipality of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Correspondence: Omid Rismanchian, No. 6, Bonbaste Aval, Azizolah Asgarian St., Lavasani Street, Farmanieh, Shemiran, Tehran 19546, Iran. Tel: +982122830383; E-mail: Omid.Rismanchian@gmail.com

Abstract

The December 2003 earthquake that struck the city of Bam, Iran and its surrounding villages killed more than 30,000 people. It rendered more than 75,000 people homeless and severely damaged 85% of the buildings stock in the area. Bam was one of the oldest cities in Iran with valuable heritage buildings like Arg-e-Bam, the biggest citadel built by adobe in the world and registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Monument. In the aftermath of the massive destruction, the unique opportunity for re-planning the whole city had to be used to address different urban, social and cultural purposes, including better addressing the needs of all residents and specifically children as the most vulnerable group of the society. In order to understand the children's essential needs in the new Bam, UNICEF was involved in restoration of Bam through the Child Friendly City (CFC) project. The first phase of planning for the CFC initiative in Bam focused on community participation, using children as key planners of their own environments for which a 2-week workshop was held. The workshop underscored very useful and applicable ideas and concepts for both urban design and architecture. This paper first reviews the evolution of the CFC project and its concepts and discusses their relevance more widely. Then the paper moves on to discuss participation principles, the workshop process, the method of children participation in this workshop and its role in bringing out new idea. As a conclusion, strengths and weaknesses of this initiative will be discussed.