A combination of factors present barriers to the successful up-scaling of green schoolyards

Giezen, M. ., & Pellerey, V. . (2021). Renaturing the city: Factors contributing to upscaling green schoolyards in Amsterdam and The Hague. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 63. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2021.127190

Green schoolyards benefit children, the community, and the environment; yet the implementation and spread of green schoolyard projects remain limited. This research considers barriers to up-scaling green schoolyard initiatives by analyzing two green schoolyard projects in the Netherlands. The successful upscaling of green schoolyards means increasing the amount of green schoolyards and institutionalizing their uptake by obtaining political support and promoting local or national policies.

One of the schools involved with this study is located in Amsterdam and received financial support for greening the schoolyard from the local government.  The other participating school is located in The Hague and received funds for greening the schoolyard from a private charity. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with four main stakeholders from the Amsterdam project and three from The Hague project. Additional information about the projects was obtained from a variety of sources, including policy frameworks, policy evaluations, and the projects' websites.

The framework for analyzing the data focused on five different contexts: Socio-cultural, Market, Policy, Built and Geographical, and Educational. The first four contexts were based on a framework for analyzing barriers to the upscaling of sustainability initiatives. The fifth context (Educational) was added to address factors specific to green schoolyards, such as inclusion in the educational curriculum. Results showed that barriers to the upscaling of green schoolyards include “lack of environmental awareness, difficulties in acquiring monetary funds, lack of time and expertise from the demand-side, complexity of the bureaucratic processes, and lack of political will.” While most teachers were aware of green schoolyards' positive effects on children, they were less aware of the positive contributions to climate resilience. The fact that most teachers lack environmental awareness and commitment results in a situation where the entire project tends to depend on a single committed player. “This means that there is already a thin line to support the project and that there is no additional capacity to think about upscaling.” The need for maintenance and the lack of involvement of the neighborhood and community around the school were also identified as obstacles to sustaining a green schoolyard over time. The lack of community involvement applies especially to schools in low-income neighborhoods, where school playgrounds cannot be kept open due to fear of violence and vandalism.  This situation can contribute to disparities between different urban neighborhoods. The need for co-funding to obtain financial support for green schoolyards can also contribute to disparities, as schools in underprivileged neighborhoods are more likely to be challenged by co-funding requirements. Another issue faced by schools in underprivileged neighborhoods relates to the lack of access to a wide variety of experts and knowledge. Such access is critical for the successful upscaling of green schoolyards projects.

A key policy takeaway of this research relates to the need for greening projects in urban areas to be linked to broader city policies. Other takeaways include specific recommendations for addressing some of the identified barriers to up-scaling green schoolyards, especially as these barriers impact disadvantaged neighborhoods.

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