Built Environment News
National
Pediatrics – May 31, 2009
American Academy of Pediatrics: Build with Recreation in Mind
The June issue of the journal Pediatrics features a policy statement on the built environment and children’s health from a committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics. The statement encourages communities to provide children with opportunities for recreational physical activity through parks and open spaces. Pediatricians are asked to play a role in establishing these communities designed for activity and health. [+]
Local
San Francisco Chronicle – October 09, 2008
New Museum Exhibit Encourages Free Play
By Paul Kilduff
A new interactive installation at the Bay Area Discovery Museum is designed to make children think differently about how they use their free time. The museum’s director hopes kids will come away motivated to choose leisure-time physical activities that are self-directed—that is, not done with parents and coaches scrutinizing their every move. “Everything we do here is child-centered play. No one’s telling them what to do, how to do it.”
State | Education
(Greensboro) News & Record – August 23, 2008
North Carolina Zoo to Build Outdoor Classroom
By Jeri Rowe
The North Carolina Zoo will soon begin raising $2.8 million to help create a four-acre classroom for kids, complete with caves, gardens, and a stream. And in another example of North Carolinian efforts to reconnect kids with nature, every family with a child attending Greensboro Montessori School is being given a copy of Last Child in the Woods.
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National | Education
New York Times – May 12, 2008
Why Are Schools Designed Like Prisons?
By Allison Arieff
In an opinion piece for the New York Times website, writer and editor Allison Arieff laments the way that school design tends to inhibit outdoor activity as children get older. “What if we looked beyond the notion of schools as institutions,” she writes, “and thought about them more as laboratories for creativity, exploration, and innovation?”
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Allies
California and Nevada Fish and Wildlife Service – June 27, 2007
Clint Eastwood hosts a Children and Nature Workshop
By Scott Flaherty
Organized by California and Nevada Fish and Wildlife Service and hosted by actor and director Clint Eastwod, the event brought together key leaders from the business and developer community, as well as government regulators. In his brief remarks, Eastwood told the group, “This is an idea that’s long overdue. We probably won’t get through all the barriers and solutions today, but we can start.”
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As part of our ongoing efforts to build the movement, the Children & Nature Network has published two new resources for leaders, organizers, and participants at the local, national, and international levels:
