Staten Island’s PS18R To Get Community Schoolyard Shaped By Student, Public Participation, Feedback
Staten Island kids at I.S.7R also received a community schoolyard back in 2021, and there have been others opened in Manhattan and Brooklyn in recent years as well.
Regarding this project in particular, we asked the following (questions in bold, answers in italics):
How long does this design process last, and is it still ongoing? Are there any designs the community is leaning toward?
Trust for Public Land is kicking off participatory design for a new community schoolyard at P.S. 18 John G. Whittier (PS 18R) on Staten Island.
Beginning in January and running through the next month, students, families, educators, and neighbors in West Brighton will help shape the future of the school’s outdoor space—transforming an asphalt schoolyard into a climate-resilient, green community hub designed for play, learning, and stormwater management.
P.S. 18R serves more than 300 students – and over 11,000 residents within a 10-minute walk – in a diverse, vibrant community. Through Trust for Public Land’s participatory design process, students and neighbors will come together to have a direct voice in how the space looks, functions, and reflects their community.
The project is funded through the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice and is part of a growing citywide effort to reimagine schoolyards as public green spaces that serve children and surrounding neighborhoods year-round.
Banner Image: TPL outdoor schoolyard completed. Image Credit – TPL
Trust for Public Land
The Trust for Public Land was founded in 1972 on the conviction that all people need and deserve access to nature and the outdoors, close to home, in the cities and communities where they live, as a matter of health, equity, and justice. While many conservation organizations set aside wildlands for biodiversity or habitat restoration, our founders sought to bring the benefits of parks and nature to the places, people, and communities that needed them most.
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