environmental design + research studio
Publications
At GRIT, we are on a mission to develop peer-reviewed journal articles, guidance manuals, strategic frameworks, assessment checklists and design guidelines for both the real-estate industry and academia to support the planning and design of spaces that are supportive of children, young people and adults’ well-being.
Below are listed a range of peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, books, online articles, and other publications:
Being Active in Play Environments: The key to children's health and wellbeing
2021
BERA's online blog series
Atmakur-Javdekar, S. (2021) Being active in play environments: The key to children’s health and wellbeing. Online blog series by British Educational Research Association (BERA) as part of ‘Wellbeing and being outdoors’.
Rethinking Young Children's Play Lives: Do toddlers and pre-schoolers need academic lessons and enrichment activities?
2021
article for BERA's special issue
Atmakur-Javdekar, S. (2021, May). Rethinking young children’s play lives: Do toddlers and pre-schoolers need academic lessons and enrichment activities? Research Intelligence by British Educational Research Association, The serious side of nature, outdoor learning & play International perspectives (147), 18–19.
Environmental Psychology: Feature piece
2022
local monthly newsletter
Atmakur-Javdekar, S. (2022, January). Environmental psychology: Feature piece. The Kindness, 1.
Publications Prior to Founding GRIT
Young Children's Play in High-rise Housing
2020
doctoral thesis
Atmakur-Javdekar, S. (2020). Young children’s play in high-rise housing: A window into the changing lives of urban Indian middle-class families in Pune metropolitan area [Doctoral Dissertation in Environmental Psychology, The Graduate Center, City University of New York].
Children's Play in Urban Areas
2015
book chapter for Springer's Geographies of Children and Young People
Atmakur-Javdekar, S. (2015) Children’s play in urban areas, in Evans, B. and Horton, J. (eds) Play, recreation, health and well being, Vol. 9 of Skelton, T. (editor-in-chief) Geographies of Children and Young People ( Singapore)
Contributions with the Children's Environments Research Group (CERG), New York City
Prior to founding GRIT, while working with the Children’s Environments Research Group (CERG) Dr. Sruthi Atmakur-Javdekar produced a range of assessment instruments and technical reports with Dr. Pamela Wridt and Dr. Roger Hart. These include:
01
Young Citizens Score Card with Plan International
2016 (assessment instrument)
Wridt, P., (project director); Atmakur, S. (project co-director); Kimiagar, B. (project co-director); Hart, R., (principal investigator); Young Citizens Score Cards, 2016, Plan International.
02
Child Friendly Places Resource Kit with Bernard van Leer Foundation
2014 (assessment instrument)
Wridt, P., (project director); Atmakur-Javdekar, S. (research associate and South Asia research coordinator); Hart, R., (principal investigator); Child Friendly Places Resource Kit, 2014, Bernard Van Leer Foundation
03
Children’s Participatory Assessment Toolkit for Transitional Learning Spaces in Emergency Contexts with UNICEF
2011 (assessment instrument)
Wridt, P., (project director); Hart, R., (project director); Atmakur-Javdekar, S. (research associate); Children’s Participatory Assessment Toolkit for Transitional Learning Spaces in Emergency Contexts, 2011, UNICEF
04
Street and Working Children’s Post-Evaluation Report for Shaishav
2016 (technical report)
Atmakur, S. Shaishav’s Street and Working Children’s Post-Evaluation Report, 2016, Comic Relief.
05
Child Friendly Places Initiative-Gujarat for Shaishav and UNICEF-India
2015 (technical report)
Atmakur-Javdekar, S. Technical Report of the Child Friendly Places Initiative – Gujarat, 2015, Shaishav and UNICEF India
06
Critical Review of the Child Friendly Places Initiative, Mumbai and Bhavnagar Cities for Bernard van Leer Foundation
2015 (technical report)
Atmakur-Javdekar, S. Critical Review of the Child Friendly Places Initiative, Mumbai and Bhavnagar Cities, 2015, Bernard van Leer Foundation.
07
Child Friendly Places Global Evaluation Report for Bernard van Leer Foundation
2015 (technical report)
Wridt, P.; Atmakur-Javdekar, S. Child Friendly Places Global Evaluation Report – Global evaluation of a participatory, child rights approach to intergenerational assessment, planning and local development, 2015, Bernard van Leer Foundation.
08
Shaishav’s Street and Working Children’s Impact Evaluation Report for UK's Comic Relief
2014 (technical report)
Atmakur, S. Shaishav’s Street and Working Children’s Impact Evaluation Report, 2014, Comic Relief.
09
Shaishav’s Street and Working Children’s Pre-Evaluation Report for UK's Comic Relief
2013 (technical report)
Atmakur, S. Shaishav’s Street and Working Children’s Pre-Evaluation Report, 2013, Comic Relief.
10
Children’s Participatory Assessment Toolkit for Transitional Learning Spaces in Emergency Contexts
2012 (technical report)
Wridt, P., Atmakur, S. Children’s Participatory Assessment Toolkit for Transitional Learning Spaces in Emergency Contexts, 2012, UNICEF (Education Section)
11
Child Friendly Communities East Harlem for US Fund for UNICEF
2011 (technical report)
Wridt, P., Atmakur, S. Child Friendly Communities East Harlem, 2011, US Fund for UNICEF
Contributions with World Resources Institute, India (WRI-India)
In 2020-21, while working with World Resources Institute (WRI) - India, Dr. Sruthi conducted a gap analysis of five key policy documents related to Infant-Toddler Caregiver Neighbourhoods (ITCN); and was instrumental in drafting a report for the funder titled, “ITCN Gap Assessment Report: An analysis of ITCN policy documents”.
During her time at WRI-India, she conceptualised, drafted and developed with a research team*, the revised versions of key policy documents, guidelines and toolkits related to Infant-Toddler Caregiver Neighbourhoods or the Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge led by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs under the Smart Cities Mission, India; and funded by the Bernard van Leer Foundation.
ITCN 2.0 documents and toolkits include:
2021
1. ITCN 2.0 Policy Framework document
2. ITCN 2.0 Evaluation and Monitoring Metrics document
3. ITCN 2.0 Design Guidelines document
4. ITCN 2.0 Best Practices Compendium
5. ITCN 2.0 Policy Workbook
6. ITCs Standards and Design of Public Open Spaces
7. ITCs Street Design Toolkit
8. Young Children’s Play Diversity Toolkit
9. Engagement Activities for key ITC stakeholders
10. Toolkit for Assessing ITC scenario with Spatial Analysis
* Research team included Amy Joseph, Anushree Patil, Arunima Sen, Jashwanth Tej, Kaustubh Chuke, Noelene Marisa, Suhani Gupta, Swarna Dutt and Visakha KA.
Select Media
interviews
Environmental Design Professional Interview
Through her interview with The Interview Portal, our founder Dr. Sruthi Atmakur-Javdekar shares her experience of learning and practicing architecture, landscape architecture, and environmental psychology. Her multidisciplinary education and work experience have shaped the human wellbeing centric, children friendly and empathy-focused creative design process at GRIT.
media mentions
Quoted in "Design Therapy for the Mind", Deccan Herald
April 18, 2021
past conferences and lectures
01
Building an Intergenerational Landscape in High-Rise Housing Developments
October 2022
Atmakur-Javdekar, S., Invited expert speaker for Pune's Real Estate Study Group, Pune, India.
02
Supporting Stakeholders to Support Play in Cities
November 2020
Atmakur-Javdekar, S., Speaker presentation at IPA-World, UNICEF, IPA-India and ACE’s Six weeks of international webinars ‘Making Cities Child Friendly in the Post Pandemic World: Play and Public Place’.
03
Playing, listening, engaging and taking action with children
August 2017
Atmakur-Javdekar, S., Session Chair at Decolonising geographical knowledges: Opening geography out to the world, Annual international conference RGS-IBG, Imperial college, London, UK.
04
Learning by reading and doing
September 2016
Atmakur-Javdekar, S., Panel presentation at Post-graduate innovations and challenges: Navigating the research–pedagogy nexus session, Annual international conference RGS-IBG, Imperial college, London, UK.
05
A critical analysis of play opportunities for young children living in high-rise housing in India
August 2016
Atmakur-Javdekar, S., Paper presentation at Geographies of young children (1) session, Annual international conference RGS-IBG, Imperial college, London, UK.
06
Play as a tool in participatory research.
November 2015
Atmakur-Javdekar, S., Invited speaker at the ‘Kaleidoscope 2015: A national conference on child rights – Participation and play in the urban context’ SNDT University, Mumbai, India.
07
Opportunities for children’s play and socialization in dense urban living environments in urban India
September 2015
Atmakur-Javdekar, S., Session chair and paper presentation at The influence of place and space on young people’s mobilities in urban and rural contexts session, Annual international conference RGS-IBG, University of Exeter, UK.
08
Environmental Analysis of Children’s Play in Fast Growing Cities of Urban India
September 2015
Atmakur-Javdekar, S., Paper presentation at Children and nature in the Anthropocene session, Annual international conference, RGS-IBG, University of Exeter, UK.
09
Child friendly cities: Two cases – Mumbai and Bhavnagar, India
January 2015
Atmakur-Javdekar, S. and Wridt, P., Paper presentation at the 4th international conference on the Geographies of children, youth and families, San Diego, USA.
10
Play trends in the West: Possible adaptations in India
September 2014
Atmakur-Javdekar, S., Paper presentation at International play association India chapter – ‘Kaleidoscope of Play in India 2014’ – conference, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India.
11
Creating play opportunities for ‘all’ children
March 2012
Atmakur, S., Paper presentation at conference titled, In defense of childhood: Keeping the joy of learning alive, The City College of New York, CUNY, New York, USA.
12
Child friendly communities, East Harlem
April 2012
Atmakur, S. and Wridt, P., Datablitz presentation at the Second annual all-psychology research day, The Graduate Center, CUNY, New York, USA.