Haida Gwaii

We visited Haida Gwaii in August to participate in an SFU conference in Environmental Education. Conducted a session of teacher training alongside scientists and educators who studied biodiversity and education in wild places. We also met Haida elder Barbara Wilson.  Drawings from the sketchbook of Susan Chung

Ecole Pauline Johnson Playground plan

Earlier this year, we assisted Ecole Pauline Johnson by conducting a youth engagement program in collaboration with Landscape architects Beryl Allen and Cornelia Oberlander, OC. We are pleased that a plan of the playground is now available  and that the plan supports many of the ingredients provided by the children: Children made their own drawing and teachers contributed through a co-design dialogue.

examples of children's drawings

drawing made by a preschool group indicating a desire for water elements

Co-design team drew at Van Dusen Gardens

Front row: Philip Chung, Susan Chung, Youth volunteers Enid,  Tess,  Youth co-design artist Tesicca Truong,  Celia King, Stanley King, Drew Ferrari, Judy Choi.  Back Row:  Youth volunteer Aaron Leung, Youth codesigner Hobson Lin, Christopher Small

Co-design Group Vancouver Team and youth volunteers assisted the City of Vancouver in engaging drop in participants to co-design their ideas for the Oakridge Transit Centre.  Co-design drawings will be uploaded soon.

Community Climate Change Fellowship, 2014: North American Association for Environmental Education

EE Capacity Community Climate Change Fellowship, 2014

As a NAEE community climate change fellow, 2014, I have joined 25 environmental educators from North America to collaborate on using their (outdoor) classrooms to equip youth to tackle the serious question of climate change. Youth need to work this problem with optimism, hope and real skills, tools, and actions. Those who engage youth need to encourage one another as we equip future citizens to effect change that starts in (outdoor) classrooms, but may end in legislative changes, municipal changes, and in the end, change in the designed environment.

We met for the first time at the National Conservation and Training Centre, a gorgeous compound of stone buildings surrounded by a nature reserve, home of U.S. Fish and Wildlife.  It was  normal to see at least 10 birds and a groundhog and skunk in any given day.  The forests had Tulip Poplar, Sycamore and the Paw paw tree. At night, fireflies lit up the forest and above, there were stars.  Throughout this year, I will be implementing a climate change project with the guidance of the fellowship, as well as from some of our leaders:  amongst them: Judy Kraus from NAAEE, Akiima Price, a leader of environmental education in urban communities, Marianne Krasny from the Cornell Civic Ecology Lab. 

The inspiring nature of the retreat can be best described in sketches...

Susan Chung

Growing Up Boulder using our Ecological Co-Design methods!

We are very grateful to our colleagues at the Child, Youth and Environments program at University of Colorado Boulder for inviting us to present to them and for collaborating with us and sharing techniques. We are delighted that our training workshop resulted in a co-design workshop implemented there. We are very pleased that  Growing Up Boulder is implementing our ecological youth program for engaging youth in the City of Boulder: Their article from their website below.
The Co-Design Method written by Growing up Boulder
Initially founded by Vancouver-based architect/planner Stanley King in 1971 and further developed by environmental educator Susan Chung, the Co-Design method affords an effective and democratic means of identifying public preference in matters of the built environment.  In its current outreach to Boulder’s youth, GUB is utilizing a Co-Design curriculum specifically targeted towards young people, detailed in King’s and Chung’s Youth Manual (available for download here). Comprised of such exercises as the City on the Wall, PEP (Personal Experience and Perception), A Day in the Life, and a drawing and group voting session, the process aims to help orient youth in their ecological, communal, and embodied context and draw from them design solutions which extend the health of a place and the happiness of its users. Visit the Co-Design youth blog, here.   Stanley and Susan visited CU Boulder in December of 2013 to conduct a workshop and lecture on their method for students and faculty of the Program in Environmental Design.

BikeWalk Summit 2014

GUB helped to adapt methods from Co-Design to guide community discussion about pedestrian and cyclist transportation at Boulder’s 2014 annual WalkBike Summit. Along with other community members, students of CU’s Program in Environmental Design and several Growing Up Boulder interns served as graphic facilitators for small groups of Boulder County residents participating in the forum. Photos by Lynn M. Lickteig.

Pender Island Codesign

Last year we conducted a youth workshop for school garden design and now community members are ready to have a work party to construct a cob building.

Community Climate Change Fellowship, 2014

We are very grateful to the North American Association for Environmental Education for accepting Susan Chung to be a Community Climate Change Fellow . This fellowship program selected only 26 educators from Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.  In the next year, Susan will meet the fellowship at the National Conservation Training Centre in West Virginia, U.S.A  and the NAEE conference in Ottawa, Canada.  Each fellow will collaborate to implement a climate change project and learn from one another.    The fellowship is sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Cornell Civic Ecology Lab.

A Day in the Life of a Co-design Workshop

Stanley King reflects on the nature of co-designing. This description neatly sums up what it feels like to be a co-design artist engaging in a design dialogue with the community:

CO-DESIGNING
We help people to give designers criteria for their designs.
As an architect may ask a family client 
”When your home is built
All entirely to your satisfaction
What would a day look like?
What round of life do you wish to live?”

As with the home, so with the city
We ask the community
“Imagine a time some years ahead
After all planning and construction is done 
All done to your entire satisfaction
What would a day look like?
What would you wish to do here?”

Social Art of Architecture For Youth Society

Welcome to Tesicca Truong, Hobson Lin and Veronika Bylicki:
We are pleased to welcome the following youth codesigners who are now Board of Directors of the Social Art of Architecture For Youth Society of BC:

Tesicca Truong is an artist, SFU student and inspiring youth activist for the environment.  She specializes in event organization, and mobilizing youth as a leader and speaker.  Tesicca is president/founder of Youth4tap and was the Chairperson of the Vancouver School Board Sustainability Conference.  She has been named to Starfish Top Environmentalist under 25 list on two occasions: 2013 and 2014.  Tesicca is part of the Mayor's engaged city task force. She is a youth co-design artist with extraordinary facilitation skills. 

Hobson Lin has experience in journalism, event coordination, and non-profits.  Hobson is studying in communication and interactive arts and technology at Simon Fraser University.  He actively follows technology, has a keen interest in new media and is conscientious about the environment.  He has been involved with the youth program and has assisted with projects ranging from school garden design to public engagement at Vancouver's Reimagine Your Streets and Viva Vancouver Talk Transportation Co-Design.

Veronika Bylicki is a team coordinator of Common Energy UBC, student ambassador of The University of British Columbia,  Environmental Education Intern at ASVO (Asociación de Voluntarios para el Servicio en Areas Protegidas).  And she is a Sustainability Education Facilitator with Metro Vancouver Youth 4 Action. Veronika has extraordinary presentation and facilitation skills.

   

Co-design Vancouver team with youth volunteers:  Clockwise from lower left: 

Hobson Lin (youth codesigner), Susan Chung, Judy Choi, Christopher Small, Alan Chen (volunteer), Grace Wicken ( volunteer)  , Tesicca Truong (youth volunteer), Stanley King and Drew Ferrari

VSB Sustainability Conference Committee

VSB Sustainability conference commitee members 2014: Rosemary Chen, Justin Luke, Chairperson Aaron Leung, Winnie Kwan, Tiffany Quon, David  Zhang, Josephine Lui. Below left: Susan Chung, Below right: Rosemary Chen and Sunny Cui

 

It gives me great pleasure to introduce the extraordinary youth committee who delivered the amazing VSB Sustainability Conference.  The committee spent 8 months together, getting to know one another and  organizing  a conference where VSB students from each of the 18 secondary schools met together to learn,  network, and draw  their  sustianable school.  Congratulations to the creative and hardworking committee for a job well done!   It was a great pleasure to work with you!  The facebook page is here.

codesign facilitation was offered by Stanley King, Drew Ferrari, Philip Chung Co-design and Graphic facilitation training was offered by Susan Chung and Stanley King.  Susan was also part of the organizing committee as the coordinator of student artists and facilitation.

youth from all 18 Vancouver Secondary Schools were represented along with out of district youth reps and teachers

NGO fair

Keynote speakers included our extraordinary Tesicca Truong!

Drew Ferrari talks to youth about co-design

co-design provided youth graphic facilitation training