Brenda Mallory – Chairwoman of the White House's Council on Environmental Quality (dark blue puffy Patagonia jacket, blue/red scarf) engaged children at Jennie Reed Elementary in Tacoma, WA in design workshops.
Current Project

Leveraging Greener Schoolyards for Better Health

Researchers: Pooja Tandon, Kathleen Wolf, Cary Simmons

Recent and compelling research indicates that access to parks and green space can promote the health and well-being of individuals of all ages. The public health implications of better park access include increased physical activity, decreased obesity, reduced stress, and improved mental health. Beyond promoting healthy behaviors and outcomes, parks offer opportunities for communities to gather and build stronger connections. Currently, millions of Americans live without access to a park within a ½ mile of their home. Our proposed research is rooted in the propositions that urban nearby nature can deliver important benefits to lower-income communities, and that the design and development process must be collaborative, community-driven, and be premised on a broad definition of health and well-being.

Our study will use a community-engagement process to study the impact of increasing access to a park using a Trust for Public Land (TPL) supported green schoolyard initiative in Washington state. In partnership with the Tacoma Public School District and the Metropolitan Park District of Tacoma, TPL has launched “Tacoma Green Schoolyards,” an initiative to promote public access to school properties and to pilot schoolyard renovations in neighborhoods where residents do not have access to parks within a 10-minute walk of their homes. We will use a pre-post longitudinal study design with a comparison site, and use both quantitative and qualitative methods. Specific outcomes of interest will be identified through engagement with the community and could include measures related to physical health, mental health, academic performance, social/community factors, participatory design effectiveness, and environmental attitudes. Results from the proposed research can potentially inform the policies and programs of decision makers including school district officials, parks planners and managers, and healthcare providers and researchers.

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