A city is ultimately measured by how it’s lived in, every day. This pillar connects Santiago Caprio’s academic work — urbanism, urban quality of life, research — with the everyday: the neighborhood, the sidewalk, the public space a family actually uses.
Much of this outlook is condensed in the IQOL, the Urban Quality of Life Index, one of 12 international publications with its own ISBN (Maggioli Editore) that are part of his academic output, alongside Environmental and Urban Economics.
Family-friendly urbanism isn’t a slogan: it’s designing cities — streets, plazas, amenities, density — with an eye to how kids, families, and caregivers actually live in them. It’s the same design thinking as always, applied at the closest possible scale: everyday life.
A case: rethinking children’s mobility in Switzerland
Years before the Bangladesh housing work made this pillar’s methodology visible internationally, Santiago worked on a mobility project in Switzerland commissioned by UNICEF. The brief was about re-signifying movement — not just how children get from one place to another, but how that everyday act shapes their sense of belonging as future citizens.
“Para re-significar la movilidad… acompañar a la persona que está pensando en ser ciudadano… eso lo pensamos en Suiza para promover mayor calidad de vida para los chicos… querían volver al año 72-76, porque si volvían a esa época esos niños iban a estar bien.”
Santiago Caprio, LU24 Radio Tres Arroyos
It’s the same rehabilitation logic applied to heritage buildings — read what a place carried, then design forward from it — turned toward infrastructure for the youngest citizens.
Care City
A city that cares is one that listens, includes, and heals — not just one that measures. “Care City” is the framing Santiago uses for urban design that puts emotional and social wellbeing on the same footing as infrastructure and efficiency: streets and public space designed around how vulnerable groups — children, elderly residents, caregivers — actually experience the city day to day.
Family-centered cities in practice
Everyday urbanism, from the neighborhood to the sidewalk.
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