Green Schoolyards America Shared Our Work in Uppsala, Sweden this Fall

The Uppsala Health Summit was held in the heart of the city in Uppsala SWeden, at Uppsala Castle.

Green Schoolyards America’s CEO, Sharon Danks, traveled to Uppsala, Sweden in early October to participate in an international event called the Uppsala Health Summit. This year, the Summit focused on developing global best practices for improving children's health and well-being in cities. It was hosted by a group of collaborating local universities and city agencies and took an interdisciplinary approach to the topic. Our colleague, Dr. Petter Åkerblom (Thinktank Movium, SLU) was the Program Committee Chair for the 2019 Summit.

Sharon Danks participated in a workshop at the Summit focused on City Gardening and Farms for Learning and Wellbeing. She gave a presentation about Green Schoolyards America’s work in California to help frame the workshop’s discussion over the course of the day. Two other speakers added different perspectives on children’s urban gardening and farms in the same session. Kemo Kinteh (Future in our Hands) spoke about his organization’s work creating school gardens across The Gambia, in West Africa. Dr. Henrik Lerner (Ersta Sköndal Bräcke University College) shared his research about animal husbandry and children’s interactions with animals, in Sweden. The session was organized by Karin Artursson and Bodil Dahlman, professors at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) in Uppsala.

Sharon Danks spoke at the Uppsala Health Summit’s workshop on City gardening and farms, on October 8, 2019.

Sharon Danks (left) and Bodil Dahlman (workshop leader), after Ms. Dahlman offered all workshop participants a “carrot” to inspire them to take action to improve children’s access to City gardening and farms.

The Uppsala Health Summit’s plenary sessions were fantastic, with presenters sharing their work and perspectives on the importance of healthy urban childhoods. These speakers from Canada, England, India, Scotland, and Sweden spoke of the cities and situations in their own countries—but it was clear that children all over the world face similar problems in achieving healthy urban childhoods. All countries, it seems, need to work on reducing dangerous traffic situations, improving children’s independent mobility, providing increased access to nature and greenery, and allowing children’s voices and concerns to carry more weight in public discourse.

The Uppsala Health Summit also provided an opportunity for Danks to connect with close colleagues from the International School Grounds Alliance, which is one of Green Schoolyards America’s closest partners.

A wonderful group of colleagues who are Leadership Council members of the International School Grounds Alliance. From left: Sharon danks (USA), Anna Ekblad (Sweden), Kemo Kinteh (The Gambia), Katrin Herrmann (Germany), Lais Fleury (Brazil), Anders Kjellsson (Sweden), Susan Humphries (UK), Petter Åkerblom (Sweden), and Matluba Kahn (UK and Bangladesh).

After the Summit, Sharon Danks and many of her colleagues also spoke at a related one-day conference held at the Swedish University of Agricultural Science’s Landscape Architecture and Urban and Rural Development Department. Dr. Petter Åkerblom led this event, as well.

Sharon Danks spoke about green schoolyards America’s work at the Swedish University of Agricultural Science, on October 10, 2019. Photo by Bodil Dahlman.

It was a wonderful trip filled with collaboration, new ideas, meaningful conversations, friends, colleagues, and inspiration.