Research Interests:
For three years, children and adolescents in Boulder, Colorado, USA, had been studying, modeling and discussing their ideas for the Boulder Civic Area, a public space in the heart of downtown Boulder. Primary school children designed tree... more
For three years, children and adolescents in Boulder, Colorado, USA, had been studying, modeling and discussing their ideas for the Boulder Civic Area, a public space in the heart of downtown Boulder. Primary school children designed tree houses for the space so they could see birds, touch trees, read books and simply hang out, and their secondary school peers readily endorsed these ideas. In May 2015, the city’s planning board unanimously passed an amendment to incorporate the “ideas from Growing Up Boulder, including . . . a tree house for children” into the Boulder Civic Area Master Plan . This out - come was a result of activities facilitated through Growing Up Boulder, an ongoing child and youth friendly city initiative that has enabled community leaders to embrace young people’s design and planning ideas and codified them into city policy (Derr et al. 2013). This chapter will discuss the establishment, organizational structure, funding sources and engagement techniques for a c...