The movement to remake school playgrounds as urban climate oases

Stepping into the schoolyard at the Adolph S. Ochs public school in Manhattan’s bustling Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, you’re greeted by a canopy of trees. Painted sea turtles and birds adorn the pavement. Summer school kids run along the track encircling the green turf field, tossing balls back and forth. Other kids shoot hoops or decompress in the shade. After walking down nearby Ninth Avenue in the blistering heat, one finds it noticeably cooler here. 

This schoolyard wasn’t always like this. Eleven years ago, it resembled many other city playgrounds: an open, unshaded expanse of black asphalt. 

Now, it’s among 420 schoolyards across 26 states that the nonprofit Trust for Public Land says it is helping to transform from barren blacktop into welcoming oases for schoolchildren and local residents. 

In late July, TPL hosted a two-day summit in New York City, bringing together school district leaders, landscape architects and environmental advocates from across the country to learn more about reinvigorating schoolyards. Keynote speakers extolled the benefits of nature-based play and keeping schoolyards open to the public when school isn’t in session. 

A core part of TPL’s mission is ensuring that everyone in the country has access to a quality park within a 10-minute walk of their home. 

Reinventing schoolyards starts with a thoughtfully rendered design. Students at a participating school survey classmates to learn more about their favorite park features and what their schoolyard really needs. From there, they work alongside landscape architects to help shape the design. Administrators, custodians, recess monitors and afterschool caretakers also take part. 

“The users are the designers,” said Mary Alice Lee, who directs TPL’s NYC Playgrounds Program. 

Designs include the classic staples — basketball hoops and jungle gyms — but reimagined: drab courts are repainted with colorful geometric designs. Structures include features inspired by natural elements, like artificial climbing boulders and tree stumps. Playful mosaics and murals grace building walls, giving life to once lackluster schoolyards. 

But these designs aren’t driven just by aesthetics and opportunities for play. Climate change is exacerbating dangerous heat waves and increasing the frequency of downpours in some cities. Green-roofed gazebos and rain gardens to catch storm runoff can let schools help their neighborhoods mitigate difficult weather conditions. 

At schoolyards such as the one at Adolph S. Ochs, asphalt playgrounds can worsen flooding and overwhelm the city’s drainage systems. Switching out blacktop for porous pavement allows rain to seep through rather than pool on the surface. A green gazebo roof, acting as a sponge, absorbs rainwater and reduces the flooding risk. On 90-degree days, unshaded asphalt surfaces can surpass 140 degrees, but shaded surfaces have been found to be at least 30 degrees cooler than those without protection from the sun.

TPL also wants these playgrounds to serve as vital community spaces outside of school hours, particularly in low-income areas that lack green spaces. 

“When the school year is open to the community after hours, you’re fostering this great sense of care and sense of ownership,” said Danielle Denk, TPL’s community schoolyards initiative director. “There’s more people looking out for what happens there, and it just reinforces that positive use.”

New York City’s Schoolyards to Playgrounds program, a collaboration between city agencies and TPL, renovates public school yards and opens them to local neighborhoods outside of school hours. Other cities in the country also have shared use agreements — between two separate government entities, such as a school district and city — that allow the public to access schoolyards and other facilities outside of school hours. But because these agreements are not universal, access to safe, green spaces remains inconsistent across communities. 

Close to 75 percent of U.S. residents who live in areas that have experienced the most nature loss are Black, Hispanic, Asian or Native American, according to an analysis by the Center for American Progress, a think tank. 

These communities often bear the brunt of hazardous weather and experience worse health conditions. Research has linked proximity to tree canopies to lower cardiovascular disease and mortality rates. 

Yet in cities like New York, green space is not distributed equitably. 

Near Bayside, Queens, each resident has an average of more than 141 square feet of park space within a one-mile walk. But in Jackson Heights, Queens, which is majority Latino and Asian, the community has access to just 2 square feet per person.

At the summit, New York City councilmember Shekar Krishnan emphasized the need for community schoolyards within his Queens district, which includes Jackson Heights.

Schoolyards are “one of the few spaces we have — quite literally the only open spaces we have — where our children can play, and our community can come together,” said Krishnan. “It’s not that park space and green space is a luxury or privilege for some. It’s a right for all of us.”

Creating community schoolyards has its obstacles. Finding funding to start a project remains a challenge. TPL works with communities to obtain funding through public and private grants, but securing funds varies from city to city.  

“The pros outweigh the cons, but we’re a cash-strapped city and district,” said Emma Melvin, green infrastructure program manager at the School District of Philadelphia. 

Philadelphia has improved playgrounds with green infrastructure through nonprofit partnerships and grants, but covering long-term maintenance costs is challenging. Vandalism can also add to the expense, Melvin said. 

“Sometimes a system can be easier to design but harder to maintain,” said Megan Garner, director of sustainability and green schools for the Philadelphia school district, during a summit workshop on building climate-resilient schoolyards. 

As the summit drew to a close, rising ninth grader Nazarian Lopez spoke about being part of the process to redesign his schoolyard at MS 343 in the Bronx.

“Today, when I see teachers, staff, students and families using that space, I feel proud because I know something I helped imagine has become a part of everyday life,” he said. 

Contact editor Caroline Preston at 212-870-8965, via Signal at CarolineP.83 or on email at preston@hechingerreport.org.

This story about playgrounds was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Hechinger’s climate change newsletter.

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