Roger Hart
 
  His work focuses on the development of theory and research on children’s relationship to the physical environment. He has been particularly concerned with the application of research to the planning and design of children’s environments and to environmental education. In recent years, he has been more broadly concerned with developing theory, research and programs which foster the greater participation of young people in articulating their perspectives and concerns as a way of better fulfilling their rights.
 
 

WORK ADDRESS

Children's Environments Research Group
Center for Human Environments and
the Environmental Psychology Program
The Graduate Center of the City University of New York
365 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10016
Phone: (212) 817-1887. Fax: (212) 817-1564

 
 

EDUCATION

Ph.D., Geography, 1976.
Graduate School of Geography
Clark University, Worcester, MA, USA.

M.A., Geography, 1971.
The Graduate School of Geography
Clark University, Worcester, MA, USA.

B.A. with Honors, Geography, 1968.
The Department of Geography
The University of Hull, Yorkshire, England

 
  OCCUPATIONAL EXPERIENCE

1987 - present Co-Director, Children's Environments Research Group.

1985 - present Professor, Environmental Psychology Program

1984 - 1995 Founder and Editor, Children's Environments (Quarterly journal)

1983 - 1994 Director, Center for Human Environments. Graduate School and University Center, City University of New York, Graduate School.

1981 -1985 Associate Professor, Environmental Psychology Program, City University of New York, Graduate School.

1981 - present Affiliated Professor, Developmental Psychology Program, City University of New York, Graduate School.

1975 - 1984 Editor, Childhood City Quarterly.

1975 - 1981 Assistant Professor, Environmental Psychology Program, City University of New York, Graduate School.

1974 - 1975 Visiting Assistant Professor, Environmental Psychology Program, City University of New York, Graduate School.

May 1974 Visiting Professor, School of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of California at Los Angeles.

1973 – 1983 Co-Editor of the Childhood City Newsletter and Special Editor of many issues of this news-journal, including three volumes on “Children's Participation.”

1973 - 1975 Assistant Professor (half time), Ecole d'Architecture, Etudes Superieur, Faculte de l'Amenagement, Universite de Montreal.

1968 - 1971 Pilot, aerial photographer and research assistant on the use of aerial photographs in elementary school education. Graduate School of Geography, Clark University.


 
  EDITORIAL AND ADVISORY BOARDS

2003 - present Associate Editor. Children, Youth, Environments (continuation of the journal “Children’s Environments”)

2002 – present Board Member. Fundacion Volvamos a la Gente (International group to support the development of the Escuelas Nuvas or “New Schools” )

2002- present Editorial Board Member. Revista Latinoamericana de Niñez Y Juventud

2001 - present Board Member. The Task Force on Children and Democracy, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

1999 – present Advisory Board Member. The Children‘s Observatory, the City of Barcelona, Spain

1998- present Board Member. The International Center for the Study of Child Culture, Ankara University, Turkey.

1997 - present Advisory Board Member. Children’s Programs of the American Horticultural Society.

1997 - 1999 Advisory Board Member. The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.

1995 – present President of Scientific Advisory Board to ABCitta, Milan (NGO for technical assistance to Italian cities on planning and designing for, and with, children).

1993 - present Advisory Board. Child Development Institute, Sarah Lawrence College.

1991 – present Editorial Advisory Board Member. Child Magazine.

1991 - 1993 Steering Committee. West Farms Open Space Committee of the Bronx Borough President's Office.

1990 - 1994 Steering Committee. Urban Child Program, UNICEF, International Child Development Center, Florence, Italy.

1989 - 1998 Executive Board member: The Hasbro Children's Foundation, New York.

1988 - 1990 Board member. New York City Environmental Education Advisory Coalition.

1989 - present Board member. The Teachers Laboratory, Inc., Brattleboro, Vermont.

1985 - 1988 Board Member. USA Division of the International Association for the Child's Right to Play.

1984 - 1995 Founder and Editor, Children's Environments (Quarterly journal)

1983 - 1986 Board Member. International Association for the Study of People and their Physical Surroundings.

1983 - 1996 Editorial Board. Architecture et Comportement, Lausanne, Switzerland.

1983 - present Representative to UNICEF. The International Association for the Child's Right to Play (I.P.A.).

1978 - 1983 Board Member. The Mayor's Council on the Environment of New York City.

1970 - 1971 Environmental Task Force. The Worcester Consortium of Colleges, Massachusetts..

 
  BOOKS

Undesigning For Children: Creating Space for Free Play and Informal Learning in Community Gardens (with Selim Iltus And Peter Beeton). New York: Design Trust For Public Spaces, in press.

Cities for Children: Children’s Rights, Poverty and Urban Management (With Bartlett, S., de la Barra, X., Missair, A., and Satterthwaite, D.). New York: UNICEF, and London: Earthscan, Summer, 1999.

Children’s Participation: The Theory And Practice Of Involving Young Citizens In Community Development and Environmental Care. New York: UNICEF, and London: Earthscan, 1997 (Also available in Chinese, Japanese and Spanish).

Environments for Children: Understanding and Acting on the Environmental Hazards That Threaten Infants, Children and Their Parents. (with Satterthwaite, D., Levy C., Ross D., and Stevens, C.). New York: UNICEF, and London: Earthscan, 1997.

Children's Participation: from Tokenism to Citizenship. for UNICEF Innocenti Essays, No. 4, UNICEF/International Child Development Centre, Florence, Italy, 1992. Published by the Latin American office of UNICEF as La Participacion de los Niños: de la participacion simbolica a la Participacion Autentica. (Also published by NGOs in French, Turkish, Japanese and Thai).

Getting in Touch with Play: Creating Play Environments for Children with Visual Impairments. (with Kim Blakely and Maryanne Lang). New York: Lighthouse National Center for Vision and Child Development, 1991.

Land and Life: A World Geography. (with Harm de Blij and Gerald Danzer). Chicago, IL: Scott-Foresman Publishing Company, 1988.

Children's Experience of Place: A Developmental Study. New York.: Irvington Publishers (distributed by Halstead/Wiley Press), 1978. (reviews in Science, Geographical Review, and Contemporary Psychology).

 
  OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Anarchy or Order? Some Dilemmas in Designing Landscapes for Young Children in Botanical Gardens. In Roots, The International Journal of Botanical Gardens. Fall, 2003

Introductory Essay to Children and Young Peoples Participation (with Gerison Lansdowne). Special Issue of the Child Rights Information Network Newsletter, No. 16, October, 2002.

Containing Children: Some Lessons on Planning for Play from New York City. Environment and Urbanization, Vol.14, No.2, 135-149, 2003.

The Children’s Clubs of Nepal: Evaluation of a Democratic Experiment (With Jasmine Rajbhandari and Chandrika Khatiwada) Kathmandu, Nepal: Save the Children Alliance (see also the associated methodological video “Mirrors of Ourselves: Tools of Democratic Self Reflection for Groups of Children and Youth”, 2001.

The Right to Play (with Alfhild Petren). In Children’s Rights: Turning Principles into Practice. Stockholm, Sweden: Save the Children, 2000.

The Child’s Right to Development (with Alfhild Petren). In Children’s Rights: Turning Principles into Practice. Stockholm, Sweden: Save the Children, 2000.

La participation de Ninos y Adolescents en El Contexto de la Convencion sobre los derechos del Nino: Visionos y Perpectivas. Actas del Seminario de 1998. Florence, Italy: International child Development Center of UNICEF, 1999.

Keynote preface to Children, Cities, and Psychological Theories: Developing Relationships. Golitz, D., Harloff, H.J., Mey, G., and Valsiner, J. (Eds.). Berlin/New York: de Gruyter, 1998.

Children’s Rights and Habitat. New York. (The UNICEF preparatory document for Habitat II: The UN Conference on Human Settlements). New York: UNICEF, 1996.

Child and Youth Development Through Community Participation: A Review of Psychological Literature on the Benefits of Community Participation and Children's Developing Capacities to Participate. (with Collette Daiute, Davit Kritt, Michaela Rome, Kim Sabo and Selim Iltus). The Children and Environment Group and the Children’s Environments Research Group, Berkeley, California. 1996.

Interpreting the Participation Articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. In La Convencion de los Derechos del Nino Hacia el Siglo XXI. Salamanca, Spain: Ediciones Universidad Salamanca, 1996.

Participatory Approaches to Program and Project Evaluation With Children. (with Kim Sabo and Selim Iltus). The California Wellness Foundation, Berkeley, California. 1996. (Published in shortened form in Social Justice, Spring, 1997).

Youth Participation Pilot Survey. (with Myrna Breitbart and Selim Iltus). A Planning Report of the California Wellness Foundation, Berkeley, California. 1996.

Children as the Makers of a New Geography. In Building Identities: Gender Perspectives on Children and Urban Space; Amsterdam: Department of Human Geography, University of Amsterdam, 1995.

“Children's Role in Primary Environmental Care,” In Childhood, 1994, 2, 92-102.

A Dialogue on the Participation Rights of Children. New York: Working Group on the Rights of the Child of the NGO Committee on UNICEF.

“Participatory Planning and Design of Recreational Spaces with Children,” (With Iltus, S.) In Architecture & Behavior, Vol. 10, no. 4 p 361-370.

A Developmental Study of Parent’s Safety Management Systems for Children at Home. New York: Children’s (with Selim Iltus) Environments Research Group, 1994

“Affection for Nature and the Promotion of Earth Stewardship,” Keynote lecture of the American Horticultural Society's National Children's Gardening Symposium, August, 1993. American Horticulturist, July 1994.

“The Changing Landscape of Childhood,” In Growing by Design, New York: Byron Press Visual Publications, Inc., 1994.

Action Research: The Critical Role of Children's Environmental Education in Community-based Sustainable Development. Education for Development Bulletin, Vol. 4, No. 2, 1993.

“The Meaning of Children's Participation,” EDEV News: Education for Development Bulletin. May, 1992, Volume 3, no. 1. Geneva: The United Nations Children's Fund. (Reprinted in French in Humania, Belgium, Summer 1992.)

“Children's Participation in Health Care Facility Design.,” Child Health Design. Spring, 1992, Issue No. 5. The Association for the Care of Children's Health Design Resource Center (ACCH).

“Developmental Perspectives on Decision Making and Action in Environments,” (with Michael Conn). T. Garling and G.W. Evans (Eds.) In Environment, Cognition and Action. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.

Children’s Play and Social Interaction on a Public Playground Designed for the Integration of Children with Special Needs (with R. Cheung, M. Dien, L. and Schwartzman, J.) Report to the Parks and Recreation Department of New York City. New York: Children’s Environments Research Group, 1991

“Child Care Environments: Policy, Research and Design,” (with Gary Moore) in the Special Issue of Children's Environments Quarterly, Vol. 6, No. 4, Winter, 1989.

“The Roots of Children's Environmental Concern,” Proceedings of the 19th Annual Conference of the Environmental Design Research Association, 1988.

“Environmental psychology or behavioral geography? Either way, it was a good start,” Special Issue of The Journal of Environmental Psychology on Environmental Psychology at Clark University. Spring, 1988.

“Developing a model of families as safety management systems for children at home,” (with Selim Iltus), J. Syme (Ed.). Safety in the Built Environment. England: E&FN Spon Ltd., 1988

“Children's Participation in Planning and Design: Theory, Research And Practice.” C. Weinstein and T. David (Eds.). Spaces for Children. Plenum, 1987.

The Changing City of Childhood. Publication of the Annual Catherine Maloney Memorial Lecture, City College of New York, 1987.

“The Interaction Between Child Development, The Child's Bedroom And Family Life,” (with Kahora Kitaura and Mitsuru Tamaru). Translation from Japanese. Summaries of Technical Papers of the Annual Meeting of the Architectural Institute of Japan, Section E, pp. 193-198, 1987.

“Wildlands for Children: A Consideration of the Values of Natural Environments in Landscape planning.” Landschaft und Stadt, 14 (1), 1982, 33-40. Also published in the Bulletin of Environmental Education (U.K.) No. 141, Feb. 1983, the Newsletter of the International Association for the Child's Right to Play, Spring, 1983 and Natur (Germany).

“Children's Geographies and the Geography of Children,” T. Saarinen, J. Szell and D. Seamon (Eds.). Behavioral Geography: Inventory and Prospect. University of Chicago monographs in Geography, Spring, 1983.

“Children's Spontaneous Architecture,” Charles Moore (Ed.) Home Sweet Home: American Vernacular Domestic Architecture. N.Y.: Rizzoli, 1983.

“The Development of Children's Environmental Concerns,” N. Watts and J. Wohlwill (Eds.). Special Issue of Zeitschrift fur Umweltpolitik, on Environmental Psychology. International Institute for Environment and Society, Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany, 1982. Also published by the Center for Human Environments, City University of New York.

“A Problem-Oriented Perspective on Children's Representation of the Geographic Environment,” (with Maxine Berzok), Michael Potegal (Ed.). In The Neural and Developmental Bases of Spatial Orientation, N.Y.: Academic Press, 1982.

“The Environmental Exchange Program,” (with Cecilia Perez). In The Bulletin of Environmental Education, London: Town and Country Planning Association, September Special Issue, 1981.

“Beyond Playgrounds: Children's Access to Resources,” (with Cecilia Perez), Paul Wilkinson (Ed.). In Innovation in Play Environments. London: Croom-Helm, 1980.

“Children's Representation of Landscape: Lessons and Questions from a Field Study, “ Lynn Liben (Ed). In Spatial Representation and Behavior Across the Life Span. New York: Academic Press, 1980. Translated and reprinted in Infacia y Aprendizage Revista Trimestrad de Estudios e Investigacion (Madrid).

“An Account of the Differences in the Use of Outdoor Environment By Girls And Boys,” Barbara Sprung (Ed.) In Non-Sexist Early Childhood Curriculum Development, New York: Teacher's College Press, 1979.

“Exploring the Environment,“ Jacqueline Tyrwhitt (Ed.). In The Child in the World of Tomorrow (Proceedings of the Athens International Symposium). New York: Pergamon Press, 1979. Also published in the special of Ekestics on children, Summer, 1979.

Le Development de la conception d'espace: revue critique. (with Gary T. Moore), translated by Adrien Pinard. Monograph of the Centre de Recherches et d'Innovation Urbaines de l'Universite de Montreal, 1976.

Extracts from "The Development of Spatial Cognition: A Review,” (with Gary T. Moore), Ittelson, Proshansky, and Rivlin (Eds.). In Environmental Psychology: People and Their Physical Settings. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2nd Edition, 1976.

Place and Play: Transforming Environments. Film with a booklet of the same name, for the British Broadcasting Corporation/Open University, 1976.

“Children and Youth as Planners and Designers.” In Proceedings of the Seventh Annual Conference of the Environmental Design Research Association, 1976.

“A Review of Theory and Research on Children's Relationship to the Physical Environment,” Anne-Marie Pollowy (Ed.). In Children in the Residential Setting: A Discussion Paper Toward Design Guidelines. Universite de Montreal, Centre de Recherche et d'Innovation Urbaines, 1974.

Guidelines for Research on Children's Relationship with Forested and Other Natural Places Within Metropolitan Areas. A report to the USDA Forest Service.

“The Genesis of Landscaping.” Landscape Architecture, October, 1974.

“The Development of Spatial Cognition: A Review,” (with Gary T. Moore), R. Downs and D. Stea (Eds.) Image and Environment. Chicago, Ill.: Aldine-Atherton, 1973.

“Trees and Children's Play,” retitled by editors: “Adventures in a Wooded Wonderland.” New York: American Museum of Natural History. Natural History, November, 1973.

“Environments for the Developing Child,” In Proceedings of the Third Annual Conference of the Environmental Design Research Association, 1972.

The Development of Spatial Cognition: A Review. (with Gary T. Moore). Worcester, Massachusetts. Graduate School of Geography, Clark University, Place Perception Research Report No. 7, 1971.

Aerial Geography: An Experiment in Elementary Education. Worcester, Massachusetts. Graduate School of Geography, Clark University, Place Perception Report No. 6, 1971.

 
  UNPUBLISHED REPORTS

Democratic Processes with Children: A Facilitator’s Discussion Guide for Reflection on Children’s Participation in Programs, Projects and Meetings. New Delhi, India: UNICEF and the Voices of Children in India NGO Network. 1997.

Improving School Attendance in Bangladesh Schools: Recommendations to UNICEF Concerning Participatory School Planning

Safe Schools: Recommendations to UNICEF, Bangladesh Regarding the Development of Participatory Approaches to Community and Environmental Health

Promoting the CRC in Thailand: Recommendations. Prepared for UNICEF, Thailand

Recommendations for Environmental Education and Girls’ Education in Niger. Prepared for UNICEF Education Section, 1994.

 
  SELECTED CONSULTING PROJECTS

American Red Cross: Collaborative design with Alex Cooper Associates and post-occupancy evaluation of children's play spaces for "Help One": interim housing for the homeless, East New York, Brooklyn.

The Association to Benefit Children: Collaborative design of play environments for interim housing for the homeless.

Battery Park City Development Authority: Consultant for children's playground for Battery Park City.

Boston Parks and Recreation Department: Playgrounds to integrate children with special needs.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden: Child consultant on the design of the Children’s Discovery Garden.

Brookfield Zoo, Chicago: Conceptual development and programming of new Children’s Zoo

Children’s Museums Design consultations: Boston Children's Museum; Expressway Children's Museum, Chicago; Staten Island Children's Museums; Brooklyn Children’s Museum; Indianapolis Children’s Museum; Richmond Children’s Museum.

Chicago Pier: public space planning (with Benjamin Thompson Associates).

CINDE, Colombia (with The Ministry of Social Welfare): National evaluation of pre-school environments and pre-school programs.

Child Growth and Development Corporation: (Johnson & Johnson) Research and product development on children's home safety products.

The Danish University of Education: Assistance in the development of a research program in environmental education.

Department of New York City Parks and Recreation: Evaluations of the Playground for All Children: a public, staffed, integrated playground.

Esselte Map Service, Stockholm: Development of elementary school map programs in the USA, Sweden, Scotland and the Netherlands.

Earth Force: Critical review of the national program for youth involvement in environmental projects.

International Child Development Center/UNICEF, Florence: Methodological consultant for 5-nation study of street and working children.

International Youth Foundation: Rethinking approaches to youth participation in programs in Thailand, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and India.

International Institute for Environment and Society, Berlin: Development of policy on children's environmental education.

Magic Playrooms(Pepsi Cola): Design of play spaces for children with AIDS.

Metropolitan University of Mexico City and UNICEF Assistance in the development of a national training program to improve child and youth participation in NGOs throughout the country.

National Office of The Gray Panthers: Design of inter-generational environmental workshops for children and older persons: consultant.

Nickelodeon Children’s Television: Critical review of children’s programming.

New Yorkers for Parks: Collaboration in the development of a research program on public space provision in New York City.

Payne Whitney Clinic Nursery School of New York Hospital: Collaborative design with Felix Drury Associates of outdoor play environment for severely emotionally disturbed pre-school children.

Play Space Inc: Programming, schematic design and design critique of pay-for-play space in New York City.

Richmond Botanical Garden, Virginia: Programming of a new play and learning environment for children.

Richmond Children's Museum:, Virginia: Conceptual design workshop for the new museum.

Trust for Public Land, New York: Research and Collaborative Design of Prototype Community Garden Play Spaces.

University of Chicago and the Chicago Parks Department: Children’s Play Garden in Midway Plaisance, Chicago.

University of Manizales, Colombia: Assistance in the development of the new interdisciplinary doctoral program in Child and Youth studies.

UNICEF, New York: The development of a national program of environmental education for the Government of Niger; Collaboration in development of new models of Primary Environmental Care and research for a book on the subject; consultation and staff training on children’s participation in programming for children.

UNICEF Latin American and Caribbean Regional Office: Systematization of experiences with programs of adolescent participation programs in the region.

UNICEF, Bangkok: Development of public education on children’s rights.

UNICEF, Bangladesh: Incorporating children’s participation into national programs for children

USDA Forest Service: Program development and coordination for the National Conference: "Children, Nature, and the Urban Environment" in Washington, D.C.

Mount Hope Family Center, Rochester, New York: Collaborative design of indoor/outdoor play environment for emotionally disturbed (abused and neglected) infants and toddlers awaiting foster care.

Worcester Consortium of Colleges: Co-designer (with Gary Moore) of Consortium Environmental Studies Program.

 
  INVITED LECTURES:

The Aspen Design Institute International Design Conference The Annual Memorial Lecture in Child Development at Sarah Lawrence College 150th Anniversary Lecture at The University of Hanover, Federal Republic of Germany American Association of Youth Museums The Annual Catherine Maloney Memorial Lecture, The City College of New York National Parks and Recreation Association Merrill Palmer Institute, Detroit, The New England Association for Early Childhood Education, Amherst, Massachusetts The Municipal Governments of Barcelona, Genoa, San Sebastian, Spain and Manchester and Camden, England The National Play Association, Belfast; Society for Children and Youth, Vancouver The National Youth Foundation, Bangkok, The American Horticultural Society The International Youth Foundation, Tokyo, International Environmental Education Conference The Junior Arts Museum, Los Angeles The International Democratic Education Conference, Tokyo Japan Canadian Society of Interpreters Annual Conference, Ottawa, Canada UNICEF National Committee Lectures in Zurich. Salamanca, El Escorial, Spain and Milan University lectures at Barcelona, Milan, Tubingen, Heidelberg, Amsterdam, Paris, Victoria, Vancouver, McGill, Pedagogic University of Bogotá, Manizales, University of California at Berkeley, Los Angeles, Davis and Stanford, North Carolina State, Amherst College, Hampshire College, University of Massachusetts, Sarah Lawrence College, Cornell University MIT, Harvard.

 
  FILM, TELEVISION AND RADIO PRODUCTION AND CONSULTING

2003 Story consultant and cameraperson for Seeking the Sultan: a documentary.

2002 Director and cameraman for Mirrors of Ourselves: Tools of democratic Self Reflection for Groups of Children and Youth, Katmandu, Nepal: Save the Children Alliance.

1992 - 1993
Consultant for "Raised Voices", a UNICEF video.

1985 WORTV (Channel 9). Straight Talk: 20-minute panel discussion on integrating disabled children in the design and management of play environments.

1983 CBS News Special on Children's Development and the Threat of Nuclear War (interviews with New York children and commentary).

July 1979 "France Culture" radio broadcast in France: Interview on important issues in children's engagement with urban environments.

1977 - 1978 WNYE Radio Station, New York: Coordinator of the Group for Environmental Learning on the content, and collaboration with script writer, for a series of 16 half-hour fictional radio programs entitled "Private Eye on the Environment". Broadcast via the National University network and public radio stations.

1977 Broadcasting Foundation of America: Summary radio program of "Children, Nature and the Urban Environment". Broadcast on National Public Radio Series: "Options in Education".

1976 Roger's Breakfast. British Broadcasting Corporation radio program.

1977 Coordinator of script research and writing for “Private Eye on the Environment”, a dramatic radio series to introduce environmental education to public elementary school audiences.

1976 Narrator and co-director of Place and Play: Transforming Environments (with Andrew Crilly). British Broadcasting Corporation/Open University film television program.

1974 Sound recording for 11 hours of 16mm film documenting children's physical transformations of environments in Vermont with John Marshall of Documentary Educational Resources, Somerville, Mass.

1970 - 1971 Conceptual development and program commentator/summarizer for a series of fifteen half-hour television programs entitled "Eco-Log: Dialogue in Ecology", Channel 27, Worcester, Massachusetts.

   
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