News

GUB Director Mara Mintzer presented to the National COVID-19 Outdoor Learning Initiative, which supports schools and districts nationwide to develop outdoor spaces as cost-effective tools for keeping schools open during a pandemic.

Early-childhood experts often like to say that a child’s environment is one of their most important teachers. But what can our built environments learn from children? In this "Raising Curious Learners" episode of "Britannica for Parents," Mara Mintzer, co-founder and director of Growing Up Boulder, discusses the importance of involving young people in the city planning process.

"Her words, love of cats and endless memes, brings humor and light to the studio space."

Doctoral student Stefi Mitova successfully defended her dissertation, “Integrating Electric Vehicles and Solar Photovoltaics into Smart Cities with Smart Charging and Storage: Energy, Economic, and Environmental Impact Analysis Using Systems Engineering Methods.”

Whether they’re dealing with smoke from wildfires, living through severe storms, or staying inside because of COVID-19, children are being forced to see the world differently in 2020. How they are learning and what they are learning about the world is quickly changing as many environmental and health threats occur simultaneously. Chawla was recently asked to write a comprehensive literature review for the British Ecological Society journal People and Nature, about how children connect with nature these days. CU Boulder Today caught up with Chawla to discuss her findings in the context of a year with many environmental challenges.

A literature review by Louise Chawla, professor emerita at the University of Colorado Boulder and CEDaR fellow, finds that children are happier and more likely to protect the natural world when they have a greater connection to it, but this connection is complex and can also generate negative emotions linked to issues like climate change. The review was published in the British Ecological Society Journal People and Nature.

Louise Chawla, professor emerita in the Program in Environmental Design and CEDaR fellow, received a 2020 SHIFT (Shaping How We Invest for Tomorrow) Award for Research for her investigations of connections between access to nature, children’s health and wellbeing, and childhood sources of lifelong care for the natural world.

In a university-city partnership organized by CEDaR, the Longmont Downtown Development Authority plans to use designs created by CU Boulder ENVD students to help transform St. Stephen's Plaza on Main Street from a little-used space to a creative hub and gathering place.

CU Boulder's Community Engagement, Design and Research Center (CEDaR) recently unveiled a website providing essential information that supports residents of Colorado mobile/manufactured home (MH) owners, including information useful during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Through a generous commitment from the Colorado Health Foundation, our work with the Colorado Coalition of Manufactured Home Owners (CoCoMHO) is helping renters and owners of manufactured housing in Colorado play an active role in policy discussions regarding protections of Colorado’s more than 900 mobile home parks.