Green Schoolyards : healthy, alive, connected.
Lets take back our schoolyards! Good bye asphalt. Hello small group, place based, open air, healthier, learning spaces that build community.
I am a.....
- Visionary Landscape Architect
Tell us about your idea

Imagine a lush, green, productive landscape surrounding each of our schools where students work in small groups performing hands-on learning in open air classrooms. If we return to school with the need for smaller class sizes and fears of virus transition, let's set the children free outdoors. Once surrounded by asphalt and lawn our schoolyards will be transformed to gardens, carbon sinks, stormwater systems, and laboratories for testing and experimentation. Students can gather under living willow domes, shady groves with stump seats, or small group STEM stations separated by productive planting. We let nature's humidity, air flow, sunlight, and temperature reduce the virus spread. While students are engaged in small group, meaningful, exciting projects that improve their communities.





What part(s) of the pre-COVID school system do you wish to leave in the past? Why?
The four walls. They limit our bodies and confine our minds. They separate us from the community and the environment. Let the school trickle out into the landscape. Learning can be messier, louder, more child driven, less prescribed and more fun. While offering more distance and less opportunity for transmission.Tell us a little bit about yourself and what inspired you to share this idea.
I am a landscape architect and founder of Learning Landscapes Design. Our design firm uses a sustainability lens to re-imagine outdoor spaces for learning and play. Our kids deserve better and we work daily to help communities and organizations across the US realize their visions for outdoor spaces that engage whole communities and create whole children.
What region are you located in?
- North America
3 comments
Join the conversation:
CommentAlex Arcos
Michelle Mathis
Alex Arcos