Cultivating Positive Youth Development, Critical Consciousness, and Authentic Care in Urban Environmental Education

This chapter considers school gardens in North America and urban agriculture in South Africa as sites for urban environmental education. Urban agriculture encompasses rooftop and community gardens, greenhouses, hydroponic systems, plant nurseries, small livestock husbandry, and vertical farms, located indoors, on vacant lots, on roofs, and on postindustrial landscapes, among other sites. Urban environmental education taking place in urban agriculture sites can integrate intergenerational and multicultural learning and contribute to environmental and science knowledge, positive youth development, job skills, and improved diets. It can also enhance social capital, environmental quality, and economic development. The chapter looks at examples of recent policies and practices strengthening urban agriculture and environmental education.

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Positive Youth Development

Urban Environmental Education Review ◽

10.7591/cornell/9781501705823.003.0018 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Tania M. Schusler ◽

Jacqueline Davis-Manigaulte ◽

Amy Cutter-Mackenzie

Keyword(s):

Action Research ◽

Environmental Education ◽

Civic Engagement ◽

Participatory Action Research ◽

Youth Development ◽

Positive Youth Development ◽

The United States ◽

Urban Environments ◽

Participatory Action ◽

Youth Civic Engagement

This chapter examines the relationship between urban environmental education and positive youth development. It first defines positive youth development and applies it to environmental education before discussing three programs from Australia and the United States that illustrate different pedagogies for integrating positive youth development in environmental education aimed at fostering urban sustainability. The first program involves young people in participatory action research through a child-framed approach, the second develops young people's leadership capacities as peer educators, and the third facilitates youth civic engagement through local environmental action. The chapter shows that participatory action research, peer education, and youth civic engagement can lead to positive change for both urban environments and youths living within them.

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Critical Positive Youth Development: A Framework for Centering Critical Consciousness

Journal of Youth Development ◽

10.5195/jyd.2020.859 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 15 (6) ◽

pp. 24-43

Author(s):

Maru Gonzalez ◽

Michael Kokozos ◽

Christy M. Byrd ◽

Katherine E. McKee

Keyword(s):

Critical Theory ◽

Youth Development ◽

Positive Youth Development ◽

Lived Experiences ◽

Critical Reflection ◽

Critical Consciousness ◽

Political Efficacy ◽

Critical Action ◽

Critical Understanding

While positive youth development (PYD) has proven beneficial in developing youth’s strengths, fomenting youth–adult partnerships, and cultivating leadership, missing from the framework is a critical understanding of the role and impact of power, privilege, and oppression on young people’s development and lived experiences. To address this absence, we developed a critical positive youth development (CPYD) framework. Bridging positive youth development (PYD) with critical theory, CPYD positions critical consciousness—consisting of critical reflection, political efficacy, and critical action—as the 7th C of PYD and as integral to both the learning process and healthy socioemotional development. This paper introduces the CPYD framework and examines implications and applications for practitioners, including exploring the role of storytelling as an effective method through which to apply CPYD and highlighting one specific example.

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Educational Trends

Urban Environmental Education Review ◽

10.7591/cornell/9781501705823.003.0031 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Alex Russ ◽

Marianne E. Krasny

Keyword(s):

Problem Solving ◽

Community Development ◽

Environmental Education ◽

Youth Development ◽

Urban Ecosystems ◽

Environmental Stewardship ◽

Ecological System ◽

Capital City ◽

Social Ecological ◽

Urban Environmental Education

This chapter discusses five trends related to urban environmental education: City as Classroom, Problem Solving, Environmental Stewardship, Individual and Community Development, and City as Social-Ecological System. City as Classroom aims to facilitate learning about urban and other environments, ecology, science, geography, history, and other subjects using urban outdoor and indoor settings. Problem Solving aims to solve or mitigate environmental problems and related social problems. The goal of Environmental Stewardship is to foster community-based management of urban ecosystems, involve community members in decision making and action to improve urban natural resources. Individual and Community Development seeks to promote positive youth development and social capital. City as Social-Ecological System aims to develop an understanding of cities as social-ecological systems, and reimagine how to manage cities to achieve desired environmental and social outcomes. The chapter shows that urban environmental education contributes to urban sustainability by addressing social and environmental issues.

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