ATLANTA COMMUNITY SCHOOLYARDS
COMMUNITY SCHOOLYARD AT SCOTT ELEMENTARY
Help design a new park for the Scott community
WHAT IS THE ATLANTA COMMUNITY SCHOOLYARDS PROJECT?
Inviting Community Members to Share Outdoor School Spaces
All Atlanta residents deserve to live within a 10-minute walk of ​a public park. In pursuit of that goal, Atlanta Public Schools, The Trust for Public Land, the Urban Land Institute of Atlanta, and Park Pride are working together on a project to improve schoolyards and open them up as neighborhood green space. Once it is safe to do so, the public can use this space during daylight hours when schools are closed — including on weekends and during the summer.
Scott Elementary applied to the program and was chosen to participate as a pilot school. During the 2021-2022 school year, students will design their schoolyard, and community members can weigh in as well. The new schoolyard will be built in summer 2022 and officially opened in fall 2022.
HOW IT WORKS
STUDYING THE SITE
Administrators at each school and in the Atlanta Public Schools Facilities Department direct our team to a part of campus that can be opened to the public. We study shade, slope, stormwater, and existing utilities to prepare for the design process.
PARTICIPATORY DESIGN
Using classroom activities, surveys, and design workshops, our team gets scholars at each school involved. Kids share their desires for the schoolyard, practice math and art skills, and draw up their own proposed designs for the site. We summarize and incorporate their contributions in the final schoolyard plan, then build it.
ANALYZING ACCESS
The Urban Land Institute ensures that neighbors within a 10-minute radius can enjoy a safe walk to the community schoolyard by analyzing crosswalks, sidewalks, and all kinds of pedestrian infrastructure around the school. These findings can inform future funding decisions by city government.
CONTACT US
Questions? Ideas? We'd love to hear from you!
.png){kind=logo}