Child Environmental Friendliness Index in support of Children's Corridor

Shift Research Lab   (Denver*)

July 2012 - September 2013

The Piton Foundation is trying to better understand the impacts the built environment has on child well-being.  How can Piton and its partners develop a better understanding of what constitutes environmental child-friendliness (ECF), through an assessment of current conditions in the built environment to identify not only deficits but surpluses, so appropriate resources can be brought to bear in creating a place that truly supports its children?

This inquiry has resulted in researching the idea of creating a Child Environmental Friendliness Index (CEFI), which will pilot in Piton's Children's Corridor.  This index will ultimately serve as a base to layer on other information (such as social-emotional) for the purpose of better understanding child education and health outcomes.  The CEFI is an idea akin to Walk Score, but focused towards the eyes of a child around the built environment.  Much research has been done internationally, and at a more macro scale, but we are interested in developing a framework that can be deployed at a micro and meso scale.