GUB

For the past 12 years Growing Up Boulder was a part of CU Boulder's  Community Engagement, Design and Research (CEDaR) Center. Now one of the most successful child-friendly city initiatives in the world, GUB is transitioning to an independent nonprofit, a model for how the university can develop, nurture and then spin off nonprofit activities.

In 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 Early Infancy (birth to 6 year 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.”

In an interview with Colorado Public Radio, hear Mara Mintzer, director of Growing Up Boulder, speak about the creation of the nation's first "child-friendly city map."

Greater Good magazine talks with Mara Mintzer, director of Growing Up Boulder, about how GUB incorporates children’s ideas into city planning for friendlier, greener and more inclusive spaces.

"Placemaking with Children and Youth: Participatory Practices for Planning Sustainable Communities," which was released Sept. 17 by New Village Press, was written by three women with strong ties to CU Boulder's Community, Engagement Design and Research Center (CEDaR).

Sidewalk Labs looks at how North American cities are turning to a suite of planning and design innovations to keep families. This includes Boulder, Colorado, where Growing Up Boulder asks kids themselves what they want, and the city incorporates its tiniest residents' ideas into transportation and other municipal plans.

Colorado MetroLab, a partnership between CU Boulder and Colorado city governments, organized a design workshop where CU Boulder environmental design (ENVD) students, neighborhood residents and elementary school students gave their ideas for revitalizing Boulder's University Hill area.

Growing Up Boulder and the city of Boulder, Colorado, are actively involving all stakeholders to make it a child- and youth-friendly city.

BikeLife Boulder looks at a partnership between Growing Up Boulder and GO Boulder that gives teens a voice in shaping transportation improvements in the East Arapahoe corridor.