Exploring Access to Nature Play in Urban Parks: Resilience, Sustainability, and Early Childhood

Project description

Nature play is an important component of the development of resilience in early childhood. Nature play is also an element of urban sustainability through a consideration of access to urban nature. From the foundation of access to nature play as a part of both resilience and sustainability considerations, a mixed-method case study was initiated. Spatial analysis, survey outreach, and focus group methodology have been combined to consider whether city parkland provides access for preschools to incorporate nature play, and, further, whether other barriers may exist to limit or prevent the use of city parks for nature play by preschool programs.

Research themes

Child and age-friendly environments

Active living and urban lifestyles

Project details

Start date:

January 1, 2018
End date:

June 15, 2020
Location:

Duluth, Minnesota, US
Funded by:

University of Minnesota Informatics Institute, Updraft Award 8
Objectives:

The project was developed to explore preschool educational program access and barriers to nature play in one community.

Project contact

Thomas Beery

Kristianstad University

Participating partners

Related publications

Beery, T. (2020). Exploring access to nature play in urban parks: Resilience, sustainability, and early childhood. Sustainability 12(12), 4894. doi.org/10.3390/su12124894