In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

  • The Emerging Impacts of COVID-19 on the Relationship between Children, Youth and Environments
  • Vikas Mehta, Victoria Carr, Rhonda Douglas Brown, and Leslie Kochanowski

It will be years before we know the real impacts of COVID-19 on children and youth, and society in general. From our current observations, measures and assessment, we know that the pandemic has had a drastic impact on the lifestyles of children and youth, their learning, mental health, and well-being. The closing of or restrictions on childcare facilities, schools, after-school programs, public libraries, playgrounds, organized sports, and other programmed public spaces, especially during the peak of COVID-19, has altered the relationship between children and youth and the environment.

As with most events of such consequence, the outcomes are complex. On the one hand, the new formats of education, the decreased face-to-face social interaction with friends and peers, the demands of caretaking and work, and the loss of family members for some youth and children has generated anxiety, depression, and prolonged stressful conditions that may have lifelong impacts on their learning, development, and well-being. The pandemic has also created an economic crisis that has pushed many families into poverty, the long-term outcomes of which will only become evident over the coming years. We also know that children and youth that have suffered the most are from poor families, whether in the poorest countries or in the developed world. For example, research has shown that the pandemic has had greater negative impacts on Black and Hispanic families and children in the U.S. compared to Caucasians.

On the other hand, the same COVID restrictions have resulted in many educators, caregivers, professionals, families, programs and organizations adapting and furthering the use of the outdoors with children and youth, and in the process, finding deeper connection with natural and public spaces. The increased presence of [End Page 1] children and play activity in local outdoor spaces suggests that places such as residential streets, unprogrammed natural or residual spaces close to home and other such spaces that were largely ignored by many groups can be a source of wellbeing and resilience in challenging times, as well as opportunities for learning. Children and youth have also used social media and technology—by themselves or aided by teachers, caregivers and parents—to deal with the stressors. Researchers have found youth to be particularly resilient in altering their lifestyles through social media: despite the limitations to mobility and physical activities, the young have used digital tools to create opportunities for staying in contact with friends and being engaged in social and entertainment activities, as well as accessing educational resources.

In this first of two special issues on children and youth and the COVID-19 pandemic, we have an array of research and field reports spanning nine countries across five continents. The work presents both sides of the outcomes of the pandemic on the lives of children and youth, including the challenges ahead regarding learning, mental health and overall wellbeing for the young, as well as the opportunities for implementing new ways to address the same. We, the editors of CYE, as well as the authors of this issue's articles and field reports, who care deeply about the wellbeing of the young, would like to see the glass half full. We hope this issue will help our readers to see this devastating pandemic in similar light.

In their position paper, Bishop and co-authors—members of the Children, Youth and Environments Working Group of the Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Research Hub of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, which includes members from Canada, the USA, Australia, and New Zealand—discuss both the positive and negative impacts of COVID-19 on young people's lives in Canada, the USA, Australia, and New Zealand. They use six spheres of children and youths' lives—social settings and daily interactions, education and school environments, the digital environment, home environments and housing, environments for play and recreation, and the shared public domain—to identify young people's lived environmental experiences in the four countries as created by the political and health responses to the ongoing management of the pandemic.

DiGiacomo and...

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