Louise Chawla

University of Colorado Boulder | CUB · Program in Environmental Design

Within a generation, children's lives have largely moved indoors, with the loss of free‐ranging exploration of the nearby natural world, even as research indicates that direct experiences of nature in childhood contribute to care for nature across the life span. In response, many conservation organizations advocate connecting children with nature,...

This chapter examines successive schools of thought in early childhood education that have encouraged the exploration of urban environments by young children. These traditions have pursued similar aims, from creative self-expression and democratic decision making to collaborative learning among peers and multiple generations, communication skills,...

A growing body of research shows that in diverse societies and cultures, daily contact with nature is an important element of people’s health and well-being. However, because parks are not equitably distributed throughout cities, some urban residents do not have access to these resources and related benefits. Given limited budgets for park acquisit...

This review examines different ways that contact with nature can contribute to the health and well-being of children. Applying the capabilities approach to human development for a broad definition of well-being, it traces research from the 1970s to the present, following shifting research approaches that investigate different dimensions of health....

This paper explores experiences that remained salient in the memories of former participants in three nature-based programs in Colorado, five to forty years after childhood involvement. Interviews with program founders and staff, archival research, and observations of current activities provided an understanding of each program’s history, mission a...

This chapter examines children’s affinity for the natural world, benefits for children from contact with nature, and how programs for ecological restoration and caring for plants and animals can promote young people’s resilience and recovery after conflict and disasters. Masten (2001, p. 228) defines resilience in childhood as ‘good outcomes in spi...

Research on significant life experiences in the development of active care for the environment indicates the importance of extended free play in nature in early childhood, and adults who encourage appreciation for the natural world. Ecological psychology provides a framework for understanding these research outcomes, and highlights the importance o...

A growing literature shows that active care for the environment in adulthood is frequently associated with positive experiences of nature in childhood or adolescence, along with childhood role models who gave the natural world appreciative attention. This article offers a framework for understanding this finding, drawing on two bodies of theory: th...

This comment discusses the lack of attention given to children at the June 2006 World Urban Forum in Vancouver. Although progress was made in terms of the recognition given to youth at this Forum, only two out of 162 events focused on the concerns of children under the age of 15 - a group that constitutes almost one-third of the world's population....

The great challenge of the twenty-first century may well be achieving sustainable development – which is ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs’ (WCED, 1987: 8). Children stand at the heart of this definition in two respects. First, concern for future generations,...

Rksume La culture occidentale a historiquement sCparC les notions de nature et de ville, et depuis le XVIIIe elle associe enfant et nature. Les arntnageurs et planificateurs ont suivi en dCplaqant beaucoup d'enfants dans la nature passive des villes nouvelles et des quartiers ptriphCriques. Une 6tude qui compare les souvenirs des personnes 2gCes et...

There is a long history of cultural assumptions regarding children’s special affinity or bond for certain places, much of it antedating modern psychology. Within psychology, the subject is more ambiguous. The term attachment evokes a long history of theory and research that has measured the degree to which young children seek to keep a primary care...