 the why the why admin wed 2122020 1404 a good start in life for its youngest urban residents is the best investment a city can make photo credit bernard van leer foundation nurturing cities for brighter future urban design and city planning play a crucial role in shaping the early years  5 years of a child s life the period most vital for a child s longterm health and development urban environments also impact caregiver s behaviour and their capacity to nurture their babies development through play affection and healthy nutrition babies toddlers and caregivers need a healthy environment easy access to crucial services interaction with warm responsive people and safe and stimulating spaces to explore and play why 5 matters there is compelling evidence from the fields of public health neuroscience and economics that investing in early childhood development can translate to better health greater ability to learn and work with others and higher incomes in adulthood research indicates that in the first years of life a child s brain makes as many as 1 million new neural connections per second the quality of experiences during the first 1000 days of life is vital for a good start in life and depends on a supportive ecosystem and physical environment that allows a child to maximise his or her potential framework for an infant toddler caregiver neighbourhood the following five objectives provide a roadmap for city managers to create healthy stimulating and desirable neighbourhoods for everyone by fulfilling the needs of young children and their caregivers itcn refers to the infant toddler caregiver friendly neighbourhoods itcn framework of the smart cities mission ministry of housing and urban affairs government of india developed in collaboration with the bernard van leer foundation available here safe safe to walk or bike while daydreaming or mentally distracted structured demarcarted space is assigned eyes on the street trust of neighbors slow respectful of privacy playful attention focusing not grabbing enveloping and protecting from distraction challenging committed to culture authored by and memorializing of the childhoods belonging to it accessible legible flexible free of physical and virtual obstacles clusters of services convenient predictable and dependable well communicated services inclusive listening and responding to needs of residents through engagement even and thorough implementation of interventions transparent processes fair to all not just owners objective informed by data green comfortable and protected from elements quiet biodiverse renewable energy sources futureoriented green technologies  