Groene schoolpleinen (BO-11-013-003)

The effects of greening school grounds on children's well-being and nature orientation.

As part of an effort to upgrade deprived neighbourhoods, in Rotterdam a number of school grounds was being redeveloped, with special attention to the greening of the school ground. This social project offered a unique opportunity for an intervention study to assess the effects of such a green redevelopment. In 2010 pre-measurements took place at four intervention schools and at one control school. The first post-measurement took place during the spring of 2012, the second post-measurement a year later. Briefly after the redesigned school ground was completed, at two schools the children evaluated the new school ground more positively  than they did the old school ground. At the same two schools the social climate on the school ground had become more positive, relative to that on the control school. A year later the children at these two school showed a small increase in well-being, compared to the pre-measurement. At one of these school, where the new school ground seemed to be used within the curriculum most, the nature orientation of the children became slightly more positive. It is important to note that the new school grounds generally were not only greener, but also larger and had more varied play opportunities. The relative importance of these three changes is unclear. As for some redevelopments not being successful, there seem to be several reasons. Not all new school grounds were able to deal with the play pressure during recesses, which also led to restrictions on use. Furthermore, sometimes popular play activities on the old school ground were no longer possible on the new school ground. Finally, expectations that were created during the redesigning process, e.g. by participation of the children in this process, were not always met.