ABOUT CERG

The Children's Environments Research Group (CERG), links university scholarship with the development of policies, environments and programs to fulfill children’s' rights and improve the quality of their lives.

There are two major strands to our work. The first is a broad concern with the fulfillment of children’s rights. The second is a more specific focus on the planning, design and management of children’s physical environments.

Following the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, we address children of all ages from birth to eighteen and so we also work a great deal with what some countries call ‘youth”.

Our research focuses on understanding children’s lives and the conditions that influence them, with the goal of changing those conditions. To that end, we are equally concerned with the development of theory, policy and practice.
We have a particular commitment and expertise to understanding children’s own perspectives on their lives.

CERG has a focus on children living in poverty and in low-income communities, both in New York City and overseas. We are a key institution of “Childwatch", and we conduct much of our international work in partnership with this international network of child rights research organizations.

CERG is a branch of the Center for Human Environments and collaborates closely with the other branches of this research center. Most of our members are drawn from the Ph.D. Programs in Environmental, Developmental and Social Psychology and Geography.

RECENT NEWS

“Imagination Playground Opens!”
CERG has collaborated with many designers over the years in the programming and design of children’s play spaces but the work with Rockwell Design on the innovative Imagination Playground has been particularly fulfilling. The designers allowed us to assist them in all phases of design and development of a new kind of public play space where children themselves can be the designers!  This playground incorporates two dimensions that we have been promoting for public playgrounds for a long time; “loose parts” and “playworkers”. Loose parts serve as play props for children. This means that a playground environment can afford a much wider repertoire of play opportunities for children. The loose parts not only enable children to engage in creative constructions and inventions but they also support higher degrees of social interaction than a typical public playground limited to fixed equipment.

Global consultations on Article 31: The Child's Right to play.  CERG has been working closely with IPA (International Play Association) to design a program of Global consultations on Article 31: The Child's Right to play. Selim Iltus joined the IPA coordinators in Johannesburg in January for the launch of the program with facilitators from the six countries who are now executing the first series of consultations.

The New York City Play Coalition (NYCPLAY) grows: CERG continues to work closely with the members of NYCPLAY (NYCPLAY.org) in a range of initiatives. NYC PLAY is a coalition of organizations and play advocates from the metropolitan area that are committed to improving children’s play opportunities. It was founded at a meeting at the Graduate Center of CUNY in 2007 co-hosted by CERG and the Alliance for Childhood.

New Co-Director of CERG - We are thrilled to announce that Dr. Pamela Wridt has joined CERG as Co-Director after spending 5 years serving as Associate Chair and Senior Instructor in the Department of Planning & Design at the University of Colorado Denver.  Dr. Wridt holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in Geography Education and a PhD in Environmental Psychology from the Graduate Center of CUNY.  Pamela's teaching and research interests include children's participation, children's geographies, child friendly cities, community mapping, participatory GIS, geography teacher education, active living, urban planning and community development.

CERG hosts the Board of Childwatch International Research Network. In May the board members from ten countries were hosted by CERG for the annual board meeting.