Every week, we bring you the latest news in placemaking, landscape architecture, the nature-mental health link, and much more. Check back each week for new roundups and items.
Connect Children to Nature
“Making mud pies, watching an anthill or skipping rocks on the water: many adults remember enjoying such outdoor activities as children. However, research shows that today’s children spend less time outdoors. This disconnection from nature is leading to increases in childhood obesity, an increase in behavior-regulating medications and even a fear of the outdoors, says Lori Hayungs, a family life program specialist with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. Kids spend more than seven hours a day with various electronic media and it’s impairing their development, Lori Hayungs said. Children need connections to the natural world as a regular part of their healthy growth and development. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends children be physically active for at least 60 minutes throughout a day and limit time with electronic media to two hours per day.”
Los Angeles Finally Allows Parkway Farming
“During the past month, debate over the legality of planting vegetables in public, residential parkways was raging once again in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Times reported on the battle between two urban farmers and the city government, which demanded the gardeners uproot their edible landscapes, even threatening the gardeners with expensive citations. The urban farmers, backed by City Council President Herb Wesson and the local media, fought back. The end result: they finally got the city council to abandon its outdated approach and stop fining them… In a time where one-fourth of all agricultural land is seriously degraded and some 49 million Americans experience food insecurity, cities all across the country need to put stronger support toward turning untapped land into urban gardens instead of blurring the line between true liability concerns and outdated bureaucratic rule-making.”
Adding Gardens to Health-Care Facilities to Help Promote the Healing
“3-year-old Alyssa, who was admitted to Children’s Hospital St. Paul (Minn.) in June for medical testing, was all smiles on the hospital’s new rooftop garden…There are lots of places to explore at the CHA (Children’s Hospital Association) Storybook Garden, which covers about 6,000 square feet off the pediatric intensive-care unit on the fourth floor. “A lot of hospitals now are realizing the importance of green space and gardens to help with healing,” said Dr. Bruce Bostrom, a hematologist and oncologist at Children’s. Spending time in a garden gives patients and their families a place to stretch their legs, get some fresh air, sunshine and vitamin D, he noted. Just getting out of a clinical setting and into a park-like environment, even for a few minutes, can be therapeutic.”
Garden Teaches Kids How to Get Down, Dirty and Healthy
“Growing students’ smarts requires dedication, patience and care. Getting down in the dirt is also part of the educational process at Apollo School. The Des Plaines elementary school [in Illinois] is providing kids hands-on experiences in healthy eating and food cultivation through an outdoor garden project and special lesson plans…The project took root in the spring of 2011, when East Maine School District 63 received an $119,000 grant for child wellness from the Cook County Department of Public Health…The project expanded to include composting of school lunch waste products and a worm chalet. A new curriculum for healthy eating and environmental awareness was introduced district-wide.”
