For Renca’s Mayor the Child is the Heart of the City

Claudio Castro, Mayor of Renca, Chile attended the Urban95 Academy in 2022 and has made child-friendly urban planning a central part of his governance under an initiative named Growing in Renca.

June 11, 2024

Anya Groner, Writer, Journalist, Teacher

First elected mayor in 2016, Claudio Castro has served Renca, Chile–a territory within the city of Santiago–for eight years. A civil engineer with a master’s degree in public administration, he champions environmental and social justice, winning 92% of the vote in his second election in 2021. Castro attended the Urban95 Academy in 2022 and has made child-friendly urban planning a central part of his governance under an initiative named Growing in Renca. (The following interview was conducted by video chat and has been edited for length).

AG: How did you come to participate in the Urban95 Academy?

CC: A foundation related to President Bachelet called Citizen Horizon invited me to a workshop in Copenhagen, Denmark in partnership with the Van Leer Foundation. After this workshop, I understood that urban planning can be one of the most powerful tools to address inequalities because of the impact on the space where people live their lives, especially children.

I came back to Chile very excited to bring together two areas that don’t commonly speak, urban planning and our department of children initiatives. When I saw that the Urban95 Academy was happening, we wanted to participate.

Photo courtesy of: Municipalidad de Renca.

AG: What lessons did you bring back to Renca from the Urban95 Academy?

CC: You have to measure the city. [During the Urban95 Academy] we went to different areas of London with a clock chronometer. We stood the whole morning in a street counting how many people with baby carriers walked through. We went to playgrounds, too. [I learned that] you have to be in the places you want to transform. When you come at night to our main square in Renca, it’s full of children playing and walking. We are in charge of building the city, so we have to learn how the city is being used even when it’s not working hours.

“You have to be in the places you want to transform. When you come at night to our main square in Renca, it’s full of children playing and walking. We are in charge of building the city, so we have to learn how the city is being used even when it's not working hours.”
Claudio Castro, Mayor of Renca, Chile

AG: What policy are you most proud of?

CC: Growing in Renca is the foundation of our social policy. We ask how the municipality can support the development of a baby born this year in our city. Growing in Renca starts with a programme called Let’s Talk Mom. We work with pregnant women at health facilities and support them until the baby is one year old. This programme impacts the mother, the pregnancy, and the development of the baby. So that’s the first programme.

Especially after the pandemic, very few children go to kindergarten. Those that go attend an average of 71 percent of the classes. We started to specifically address attendance in pre-k with monetary subsidies given to families with 90 percent attendance. We also support reading education. In Chile, one out of two children cannot read by the age of six or seven years old. We have a huge programme to address that called Renca Reads.

AG: Your team came to London with the challenge of getting more people to spend time in Renca’s hills. Can you tell me about the hills and why they’re so important to the city? How are you incorporating children’s needs into the way that you’re developing them?

CC: Renca receives the pollution from the rest of the city. We also house the power plant for the whole city. And Renca has far less green space than the rest of Santiago. We’re in a heat island. But, Renca is the owner of 200 hectares of the hills.

Right now, the Renca Hills are not developed. We’re trying to transform 200 hectares into a metropolitan park that will address inequalities, a place where children can develop. We’re thinking about the routes to get to the hills. How will children walk or move to the hills? And what children’s infrastructure will we have? We’re just starting the construction of a $10 million project that will create paths leading to the top of the hill with scenic viewpoints along the way. The first stopping point will be a children’s park.

We’ve also designed green paths for different kindergartens in Renca to walk to the hills. We’ve piloted these on open streets weekends.

AG: What are some of the ways that you’re connecting children’s caregivers to the hills?

CC: [They] told us they wanted to be able to make it to the top of the hills. Now the project includes two buggies that can carry elderly people and caretakers with small children or babies.

AG: How has the city responded to all of this?

CC: The hills are magic. They are very connected with the Renca identity. Even grownups say that they consider the hills a part of their identity. Each time that we make a new project, the community gets very excited.

AG: These programmes sound environmental and cultural. Are you intentionally cultivating a relationship with the hills?

CC: Definitely. Renca is a poor area of Santiago. When I’m campaigning, adults tell me, “I live in Renca, but I work hard so my children can aspire to something different.” They want their children to move away. But when we work on this connection to the hills, our people become proud of where they live. It’s a cultural change. Growing in Renca is good. Living in Renca is good. Where before we saw inequalities or challenges, now we see potential. That change is very important for the people living here.

AG: The Urban95 Academy focuses on having a child-centered approach in every part of policy. How has that changed how you think about the future of Renca?

CC: 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.

AG: You once said that 80 percent of your time should be spent engaging the community. Does that idea still inform your work?

CC: Part of my job this last month was to go to meetings of parents and caregivers in different schools to tell them, “We’re launching this initiative and we need you.” I’m a parent. I have three kids. No one taught me how to raise children, how to be a good parent, how to join, how to listen. They appreciate the mayor saying that we are partners, that the municipality wants to work with them in their job of raising their children.

“The Urban95 network is a chance to be connected with other cities. Teams can share initiatives. When you work in a city, the solutions for many of the challenges you face are being implemented somewhere else. As a mayor, this is important.”
Claudio Castro, Mayor of Renca, Chile

AG: Before you go, can you tell me about the Children’s Council?

CC: Before the pandemic, we were failing as a state. Some episodes were very painful. So Renca spoke with the national ministers. We launched the first local council of children. The participation of the children is a must. There are representatives of different schools, initiatives, and organizations. The Powerful Girls in Renca challenges the municipality to create more space for girls, not only in decision-making, but in every aspect of their lives. Local councils of children are now mandatory. That national policy came from Renca.

AG: Anything else?

CC: The Urban95 network is a chance to be connected with other cities. Teams can share initiatives. When you work in a city, the solutions for many of the challenges you face are being implemented somewhere else. As a mayor, this is important.

All photos courtesy of: Municipalidad de Renca.

Anya Groner’s award-winning writing explores the changing environment’s impact on community and equity. Her journalism and essays are featured in Guernica, The New York Times, The Oxford American, Orion Magazine and The Atlantic.