Published: Feb. 24, 2021

View of a city park in Strasbourg, FranceIn February 2021, Louise Chawla, CEDaR fellow and professor emerita in the Program in Environmental Design, was invited to give an opening speech for a weeklong Festival of EarlyInfancy (birth to 6year olds) in the city of Strasbourg, France on the topic of “Connecting Children with Nature to Foster Wellbeing and a Caring Relationship with the Natural World.” During the hour-long discussion that followed, the city’s deputy mayor was interested in learning about Growing Up 鶹ӰԺ, a partnership between CEDaR, 鶹ӰԺ’s city government, and the 鶹ӰԺ Valley School District to engage children and youth in city planning and design. Growing Up 鶹ӰԺ projects include young children in elementary schools and preschools. The festival was organized by the Academy of Early Infancy and the Terra Symbiosis Foundation in Strasbourg, with the aim of inspiring the greening of child care, preschool and elementary school grounds and encouraging greater use of the city’s parks by early childhood institutions and families with young children.