Participatory Design for Community Schoolyards: Mixed Methods Reveal Positive Engagement Despite Measures Limitations

Extensive research demonstrates that parks are important for human health and well-being across the human life span. Research also reveals disparities in park distribution both across and within cities of the United States, with under-resourced communities often having fewer green spaces, and ones that are smaller and of lower quality. Outdoor spaces at public schools can be reimagined as community parks to welcome public use after-hours and on weekends. The Community Schoolyards initiative of The Trust for Public Land promotes engagement with school districts and park systems to expand park access in urban underserved communities. Our engaged team science approach used a natural experiment situation to evaluate multiple aspects of a schoolyard-to-park transformation program in Tacoma, Washington (USA), with a focus on civic intelligence. We combined community engagement with evaluation to understand how elementary school students responded to participatory design when generating ideas for their local schools’ schoolyard renovations. A pre–post, mixed-methods study (two intervention schools and one control school) was conducted despite COVID closures and remote teaching, requiring multiple study adaptations. Combined quantitative (student surveys) and qualitative (teacher interviews) methods were implemented to understand the impacts of a participatory design process for children. Quantitative results indicated little change from baseline, while qualitative results suggest substantial positive developmental outcomes. While additional research is needed, particularly in less extraordinary times than those presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, we found that an early design experience can introduce children to new ways of thinking about their school, their community, themselves, and the importance of parks.