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Batchelor, James P.; Rhodeside, Deana D.From Recess to Hang-Out: The Design of Open SpaceOpportunities.Massachusetts Inst. of Tech., Cambridge. School ofArchitecture and Planning.7587p.Laboratory of Architecture and Planning,Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77Massachusetts Avenue, Room 4-209, Cambridge,Massachusetts 02139 ($2.00)

EDRS PRICE MF-$0.83 HC-$4.67 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS Building Innovation; *Community Schools; *Design

Needs; Elementary Education; EnvironmentalInfluences; Landscaping; Land Use; *PlaygroundActivities; *Playgrounds; Prevention; RecreationalFacilities; School Vandalism; Site Selection; SpaceClassification; *Space Utilization; Urban Schools

IDENTIFIERS Massachusetts (Boston); *Open Spaces

ABSTRACTIn building a recent series of innovative community

schools, Boston has created more diverse outdoor spaces thantypically surround urban elementary schools. Being more complex bothin program and design, the community schools have created complexpatterns in use that were not anticipated. This research wascommissioned to determine what has been happening in these newlyconceived spaces and to recommend ways to design more usable openspace areas. In this report "open space" is taken to include alloutdoor areas: playgrounds, parking lots, entranceways, totlots,circulation areas, and miscellaneous left-over corners. A scenarioprovides a composite picture of a day at a hypothetical school. Tenfunctions that open spaces perform are identified and described interms of activities they support. Then follows an analysis of theways in which each of the community school open spaces creates theopportunities for these activities. Patterns emerge in the way openspace opportunities are created and these patterns form the basis forrecommendations that suggest how to support or discourage each of theten open space functions. Several recommendations are put forth toreduce the problems at schools that must be sited next to parks.(Author/MLF)

Docu s acquired by ERIC include many informal unpublished* material:, aot available from other sources. ERIC makes every effort ** to obtain the best copy available. Nevertheless, items of marginal ** reproducibility are often encountered and this affects the quality ** of the microfiche and hardcopy reproductions ERIC makes available* via the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS). EDRS is not* responsible for the quality of the original document. Reproductions ** supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original.***********************************************************************

FROM RECESS TO HANG-OUT...

The Design of Open Space Opportunities

James P. BatchelorDeana D. Rhodeside

1975

School of Architecture and PlanningMassachusetts Institute of Technology

Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139

3

CREDITS

This research has been funded by the BostonPublic Facilities Department, Robert J. Vey, Director.

We have appreciated the support and guidance ofthe PFD Design Section, most particularly StuartLesser, Roger Roman and Ralph Clampitt.

In addition, we wish to credit Anne Gero -Still -well and Beverly Herbert, who participated with usin the firat phase of this research.

Finally, we wish to thank those people whogenerously spent tins speaking to us About communityschool open space issues.

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CONTENTS

page

Summary 1

Introduction 4

I. The 'Function of Open Space 8

II. Open Space Opportunities 17

III. Schools Next to Parks 62

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SUMMARY

In building a recent series of innovative com-munity schools, Boston has created more diverse out-door spaces than typically surround urban elementaryschools. Being more complex both in program and de-sign, the community schools have created complex pat- ,

terns in use that were not anticipated. The PublicFacilities Department commissioned this research todetermine what has been happening in these newly-con-ceived spaces and to recommend ways to design moreusable open space areas.

These open spaces are scarce resources in denseneighborhoods and important connections between theschool and neighborhood. The spaces often go unusedor harbor a few angry teenagers who disrupt both schooland community. Observations and interview* at sevenschools have generated clues about how designers, in-tentionally or not, create the opportunity for variousactivities.

To illustrate the functions which community schoolopen spaces must serve, a scenario provides a compositepicture of a day in life at a hypothetical sdhool. In

spite of the marked differences in the environmentsof the seven schools studied, the kinds of activitiesat the schools were quite similar.

The scenario traces through the day, from arrivalof kids, through the morning clean-up, recess, and in-formal play in the afternoon, to hanging-out in thelate evening. Though the immediate conception of thefunction of school open space is to support recess,recess is the most constrained of activities, seeminglyoperated for ease of supervision by taidgeri. At thebetter functioning schools, the open space creates the

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opportunity for an intricate network of informalplay: several major games such as punchball orstreet hockey at the centers of a network f smalleractivities (yo-yo's, throwing a ball against a wall),connected by kids on bicycles cruising between acti-vities and overseen by mothers on the porch of atriple-decker or older kids sitting up on some van-tage point.

Ten functions which open spaces perform areidentified and described in terms of activities theysupport:

recessteam sportsinformal playhanging (non-threatening)hanging (threatening)parkingcirculationmaintenancevandalismno use

Then follows an analysis of the ways in whicheach of the community school open spaces creates theopportunities for these activities. The seven schoolsare very different: one school is up against a steephill on a small site, all hard-topped but differenti-ated by level changes, walls, and the angular shapesof the building. At another, the building is carvedinto the side of a wooded hill, leaving deep gulliesbetween building and puddingstone embankments. Inanother, the play area is dominated by gargantuansandboxes. There is as great a variety-in the waythe spaces are used. Sometimes beautifully function-ing spaces and disaster areas are on the same site.Yet patterns emerge in the way open space opportuni-.ties are created.

These patterns form the basis for recommendationswhich suggest how to support or discourage each ofthe ten open space functions.

Special attention is devoted to the practise ofsiting community schools next to existing playgroundsoperated by other city agencies. Although this osten-sibly is a way to provide substantial amoupts of openspace for a school without taking a great-deal of land,

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the practise has, in fact, left schools with veryfew opportunities for outdoor activities. For in-stance, at only one of the four schools sited nextto parks was the field used for recess. At theothers the distance from classroom to field is sogreat, the twenty-minute recess is consumed in get-ting to and from the field. It is recommended thatthe practise be avoided, if possible,, but because ofthe scarcity of land may be an overriding concern,several recommendations are put forth to reduce theproblems at schools which must be sited next to parks.

In fact, whether a school is on its own siteor sited next to a park, the opportunities for acti-vity and not the shear size of the facility will makethe difference in whether it is used or not. To workwell, to be well-used, urban elementary school openspaces must both reduce the opportunity for crimesor harrassment and create the opportunity for meetingfriends and doing exciting things. Urban open spacehas the schizophrenic potential to create either ano-man's land or a center of neighborhood activity.Policy and design decisions can go a long way in de-termining which outcome occurs.

INTRODUCTION

Older elementary schools in Boston present aconsistent image: two or three stories of heavybrick construction sited in the middle of a pavedlot. The lot could be used for parking, recess, orline-up. Sometimes stencilled hopscotches, four-squares, line-up lines, or parking lines demarcate aspecial use for an otherwise indistinguishable area.

This image changed dramatically with the intro-duction of the Community Schools Program and the con-struction of a series of new schools intended forjoint community and sChool use. The playgrounds andthe rest of the open space took on new forms as theCity and its architects experimented with new designsin anticipation of new uses. At one school, the spaceis entirely hard-topped but differentiated by levelchanges, walls, and the angular shapes of the building.At another, the site is wooded, strewn with pudding-stone boulders, and the building is carved into theside of the hill, leaving gullies between building andpuddingstone embankments. Still another is dominatedby gargantuan sandboxes. Some community school sitesinclude their own playgrounds; others have little ornone of their own space but are sited next to existingCity parks.

Being much more complex than the older schools,both in program and in design, the community schoolshave created complex patterns of use that were notanticipated. Where there had been only a single usewhich ended by the middle of the afternoon, there arenow two groups, school and community, who use thebuilding and grounds throughout the day until lateat night and on weekends. The grounds and-facilitiesthemselves attract many more informal, unprogrammed

What is inThis Report ?

5

activities than did the simple rectangular lot.

The uses of open apace areas are not equallyvalued by all ehose involved in them. The high eostof repairs and complaints from neighbors, principalsand community coordinators are among the indicatorsthat all is not well. To design a community schoolopen space that works well for all users, the design-er must provide the opportunity for a wide range ofuses but minimize the potential for conflict. Inevi-tably, judgments will be made in which some uses areencouraged and others discouraged. The best mechanismfor making such judgments is an open design processthrough which users can participate in the designdecisions and can develop a commitment to the schooland its open space areas. Unfortunately, this approachis not always followed; and even when it is, "users"are often difficult to identify and those who areidentified cannot always fully anticipate needs andproblems which may arise in the future. Experienceis frequently a fine aid in this process.

The aim of this report is to relate some of theopen space experiences at existing community schoolsin Boston, particularly with regard to the ways inwhich physical design supporta the functions of openspace. The result, we hope, will be to improve schoolopen space design so that users can more fully recog-nize the potential of these areas and will be encour-aged to use them productively.

The first question asked is, what are the lune-dons of community school open. spaces?* In Chapter I,a scenario of a day at a community school open spacedepicts the kinds of activities which take place andthe function of the open space in the activities.Based upon experiences at existing community schools,patterns of open space needs are projected throughthe scenario. These patterns have no claim to beingimmutable, nor are they necessarily the patterns whichthe City should reinforce. However, they representexisting conditions and any attempts to improve thepicture should be based in an understanding of the

*In this report, "open space" is taken to in-clude all outdoor areas: playgrounds, parking lots,entranceways, totlots, circulation areas,.and miscel-laneous left-over corners.

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kinds of activities that presently occur and the waysin which environments support or discourage them.

How the actual conditions at seven communityschools support or discourage different activitiesis the issue in the second chapter. For each of theschools, the qualities of the open space which shapeits function are exaulned. Then design recommendationsset forth ways to support each of the ten activities.

Finally, the third chapter focuses specificallyon the practise of siting_community schools adjacentto existing playgrounds designed and operated by separ-ate administrative agencies. Because open land isdifficult to obtain, Boston has sited some of its com-munity schools adjacent to other playgrounds, withthese serving as the bulk of the school's open spaceareas. We examine how this arrangement is workingand arrive at policy guidelines.

The research for this study has had two phases.The first was an in-depth analysis of the open spaceat two of Boston's elementary community schools: theKant in Charlestown, and the Marshall in Dorchester./n the second phase, five more elementary communityschools were included and special attention was givento the differences between community schools with theirown open space and community schools without their awnopen space but adjacent to park playgrounds. The fiveadditional schools are the Lee (near Franklin Field),the Holland (Meeting House Hill), the Agassiz (nearForest Hills), the Hennigan (Parker Hill), and theMurphy (near Neponset Circle).

Of these seven schools, only three, the Kent,Marshall, and Holland control their own open space.The other four have some limited outdoor areas butrely on adjacent park playgrounds for their open space.

The research methods used in this study includedobservations of the open space areas at each of theschools, and interviews with relevant individuals orgroups. Observations were carried out at differenttiues of the day, on different dayS of the week, andin different seasons. The kinds of activities andthe Characteristics of the users were noted. The con-dition of equipment, the location of paths, the pres-ence of litter, and other variables were,redOrded.In addition, the following groups of people were inter-

viewed:

- city administrators- principals- community program staff- teachers- custodians- community leaders- other users, mostly children and teenagers

As is implied, this research brought us into con-tact with many people who gave generously of theirtime. We greatly appreciated this and hope that theimplementation of some of our recommendations providea fuller thanks.

Chapter One

THE FUNCTION OF OPENSPACE

Morning

Recess--those twenty minutes of every school dayin which teachers forego attempts to teach and adopt a

strategy of containment--is the most commonly intended

function of school open space. But "a day in the life

of" school open space is much more complex. Oa the one

hand, the percentage of time in each day spent in re-

cess is relatively small; on the other hand, the propot-

tion of outdoor space used by this activity is often

not large.

To understand the function of community school

open space, we will trace through the patterns of use

that could be expected on a typical school dayinotthat this is easy to identify. Things will be verydifferent on a slushy day in winter compared to thefirst decent day of spring. And, of course, more dif-

ferent still in the summertime when school is not in

session.

But following the activities on a decent day in

spring will serve to elucidate the major patterns in

use and the different perspectives on use of schocd

open space.

The first arrivals on a typical school day areoften children. Their parents have left for work, per-haps dropping them off at school on the way, but at any

rate ensuring that they are out of the house and headed

for school. As more kids come, small groups form and

some games get underway. If there is any totlot equip-ment available, it is used for a combination of sitting,

talking and playing. Many mothers come, either by car

or on foot, to drop off their children.

If it's a rainy day, most kids would be huddled

under overhangs in front of doorways oi in other shel-tered places, but others will be out playing even in

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the rain, bouncing a tennis ball against the wall andotherwise ignoring the rain.

Custodians and a few others arrive early, too,but most teachers start arriving after 8:00. Parkingis scarce, especially safe parking, where a car won'tget stolen, broken into, sideswiped or otherwise dam-aged, and which is close enough to the school so thatteachers won't have to worry about being assaulted be-tween parking lot and school building. Late-comersoften park in visitor slots or illegally on the streetto avoid using distant or unsafe parking lots. At theHennigan, they have hired a full-time guard to watchthe parking lot. He sits up in a second-story room,surveying the lot from a window.

At about 8:15, one or two teachers come outsideto supervise the growing number of kids. At the Agas-siz, all children are ordered off the timberform playequipment at 8:15 because the principal feels respon-sible for making sure that no one is hurt.

Then the buses come. As kids get off, they aresent into different areas of the school open space,according to grade. After the confusion surroundingthis initial sorting process has subsided, line-up be-gins. In this transformation of free-play and chaosinto order, kids respond to whistles and calls as theyline-up along fences, walls or painted markings. Eachclass then files into the school and all is quiet onthe playground.

Soon after classes begtn, a custodian comes out,pulling a trashbarrel on wheels. This chore seems to'be one of the day's worst. Picking up paper, sweepingup broken glass, the labor causes a great resentmentto well up within the custodian against the youths whohave nothing better to do at night than to came aroundand trash up the school yard. Where the surface ishard-top and level, the custodian can use the sweepingmachine; but since the playground is cut up by walls,curbs and steps, much of e area cannot be covered byzhis equipment.

*A kid or two may be assigned to help the custo-dian, but "unless he's a good kid, it's more troublethan help." At any rate, having some kids doing clean-up doesn't seem to stop other kids from messing theplace up at night.

Only some of the areas are cleaned. At the Kent,

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there is a wading pool that is a miniature dump: rip-ped up lamp-posts, old clothes, busted bicycle parts,and more--all covered with a thick layer of bustedglass and litter. The mechanical difficulty of sweep-ing the stepped sides of the wading pool, its originaldesignation as a "comumnity facility" and the fact thatit is too small for use during recess combine to justifyskipping it during the sweeping rounds. If there is anyfoul or racist graffiti, the custodian may paint it out,otherwise he finishes up and heads in before recess be-gins.

The doors open for recess and 200 kids stream out.They head into the nearest hard-topped area. Near isimportant because teathers don't want to spend the timeand energy necessary to walk kids long distances for arecess that is only twenty minutes long; also, becauseteachers like to be near the building in case of an ac-cident and because they are worried about personal se-curity. Hard-top is important so that the kids stayclean and teachers avoid complaints from parents andcustodians.

Different age groups tend to play in differentareas. .Kindergarten teachers especially seek out areaswhere the young children won't get trampled-by olderones. But depending on the availability of spaces, afull range of classes may be in the same recess area.

Kids' activities also tend to separate accordingto sex; sometimes this separation is enforced, as atthe Kent, where boys play on one side of the dottedline and girls on the other. The primary activity forthe boys is play-fighting--karate, hopping and Checkingor wrestling. Occasionally, an informal game of bas-ketball or soccer is started, but in most cases, organ-ized games would take up too much space and there istoo much interference. Balls are thrown and kickedaround, sometimes into the streets. Girls are less ac-tive, often sitting and talking, but otherwise jumpingrope, playing foursquares, hopscotch or similar games.

Throughout all this, the four teachers or aidesstand in a prominent position where they can survey therecess activities. They talk amongst themselves andperhaps to a few girls. Occasionally, they might super-vise a punchball or other kind of pick-up game. Butgenerally, their strategy seems to be one of contain-ment. Fighting or violence is generally not cause forinterrupting their conversations, but rf :a-kid is seenslipping around a corner.... They will also yell out

15

at kids breaking certain safety rules: "No playing on

the steps!"

As the allotted time runs out, there is a long

blow from a teacher's whistle: Most everybody "freezes".

A minute later, when all is still, there is a second

whistle, and the kids fall into lines according to their

classes. One class along a fence, another class along

a wall, the classes then march in.

The recess cycle is repeated several times until

all pupils have had a break from the classroom routine.

Unless it's raining, in which case there will be no

recess at all.

When recess is not on-going, the grounds will be

quiet, occasionally crossed by an adult passing through

or by a kid playing hookey and just hanging around theschool tossing rocks at the tall lampposts which give

off a resounding gang when hit. Several young men

might come by with a basketball and shoot a few 4agt-

kets. If kids come out for recess, they may 8, '''

around; then the teacher may raise a protest, au., .:he

principal may or may not be able to evict them. After

all, it's a community school.

Recess for the kindergarten kids happens separ-

ately. Each teacher takes his/her class out on their

own schedule. In some schools, there are special re-cess areas for each kindergarten class, which the

teacher usually finds either too small or too danger-

ous. Sometimes, the teacher won't take the class out

at all because there is broken glass everywhere and

excrement in the sandbox. One kindergarten teacherhadn't taken her class out in a year; occasionally,

they went out into the hall for some exercising. If

there is a totlot, kindergarten class will go there

for recess. The totlot seems to work well for sittingaround and made-up games, as well as for their inten-

ded uses. However, few teachers at schools without

totlot equipment miss it; they anticipate incidents of

accidents and vandalism that they feel would outweigh

any recreational value.

Around noon, parents begin to arrive with youngchildren, signalling the advent of the second session.

Parents will sit in the totlot and watdh over their

awn or other children until the morning session dhil-

dren come, often to be met by their parents.

In the afternoon, there may be a kindergarten

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recess, but otherwise the school yard will be quiet.

If, by some chance, on this day there is an outdoorgym class, it will be a smaller group, probably only

one or two classes. Since all the gym teachers havebeen cut in an austerity budget, the only gym classesthat take place occur if a teacher, usually a maleteacher, decides to lead a grm class himself. The gym

class is longer, approximately forty uinutes, and theclass will walk a longer distance to get to an openfield for an organized gaue like softball.

The school day ends with the dispersal of classesto the waiting buses, parents and streets. The nunberof people milling around drops off until it stabilizesinto the afternoon hanging patterns.

Sitting, watching, waiting groups collect at sev-eral key locations to check out what is happening.Ideal locations are those which are at junctions throughwhich many others will pass on their way to and fromactivities, especially right outside the doors to thecommunity center. Also good are areas with a view to

activities,

When a group hanging around reaches a "criticalmass", or when a critical friend arrives, a group willhead off to play basketball or will leave the area.At the Kent, a group of younger kids slowly collectsat the top of the hill above the main hard-top area,watching the few older kids below use the playground.When the younger group grows large enough, they swoopdown and set up their punchball game. They plan it sothey are well entrenched before any organized inter-ference can be mustered.

Pick-up games materialize and dematerialize as theafternoon wears on, but some noticeable patterns developin the way the playgrounds are used.

The games get started in their respective playingareas, such as a street hockey game in a parking lot.Several layers of activity develop around the game.Along the edge of the playing area are the' spettators,sitting on curbs, automobilessor bleachers. Theeepeople are primarily watching the game, perhaps hopingto join in, if not today, next year when they are older.

Beyond the immediate zone of spectators are the peri-pheral activities: the yo-yo's and superballs. These

people are not engrossed in the game but-ate up forbeing around the action. Further in the distance are

the "caretakers". Mothers on the third floor balconies

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of triple-deckers or perhaps a community coordinator,if the office is well-placed to allow a view to theoutdoor playing areas. These people are ready to comeout if some accident or trouble occurs.

Another common phenomenon is cruising between ac-tivities. Bicycles and motorbikes crisscross fieldsand climb ramps to check up on what is happening andbring the latest word from one group to the next.

There are episodes of vandalism; most of them seemto be motivated by a desire for something to do, asfighting is an outlet for fun during recess. A kidmight tip over a waste barrel and collect all the bot-tles, take them to an unpopulated and unusable areaand toss them against the wall. Or a kid will hangonto a sapling tree and whip it back and forth.

Activity falls off toward dinner time. A few olderguys go one-on-one at the basketball hoop for some exer-cise after work and before heading out for pizza.

As activity picks up again after dinner, it is aslightly older group of kids; the average age tends torise as.the evening wears on. Again, kids gather atkey points to survey the people and activities.

Parents begin arriving by car around 7:15 for ameeting at the school. Cars park as close as possibleto the entrance doors,Arrespective of signs. They goto considerable lengths to avoid walking through groupsof teenagers. A late-comer heads around the school,trying all the doors along the way. After banging onone for a minute, she calls out, "I don't see why theycan't have doorbells."

There is plenty of activity. The community schoolcoordinator has taken out tennis poles and nets, andhail set them up for an all but unmanageable crowd.Most of the high intensity lights glaring down fromthirty feet in the air.are unbroken.

Out back, five younger kids head for a dark ccwith a twelve foot 2 x 8, with,smaller pieces of woodnailed in at roughly equal intervals. The board ispropped up against the wall, and they climb up onto theroof. They take turns jumping off the low roof to theground, most of the time not getting hurt. Shortly,they all climb back up and pull the ladder-Up, disappear-ing from sight.

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The dark areas behind the school are where mostof the trouble happens. A rule of thuth is that whilehanging "out front" is part of normal activity, whenkids are hanging out back, there may be trobble. Anempty purse laying nn the ground by a fence attests tothe area's function in neighborhood life. Other acti-vities reportedly include bringing stolen cars to fhearea to strip them down.

The new community coordinator has cradked down onteenagers hanging around school, so there is not asmuch of that recently. But over the course of theevening and into the night, enough litter and brokenglsss is generated to keep the custodian busy the nextmorning.

This scenario represents a composite picture ofevents at different schools. Most of the events couldhave happened at any school, though the density of actirvity included for the purpose of describing the fullrange of activities is probably greater than would bethe case at most schools. In spite of the narked dif-ferences in the physical environments of the sevenschools studied, the kinds of activities at the schoolswere quite similar. The major differences were in theamounts of various kinds of activities. Some schoolsare intensively used, such as the Kent, which is locatedin one of the most densely populated neighborhoods. TheHolland open space is used much less intensively. There

are also differences in specific activities: bottlebreaking is a serious problem at the Kent, but not atall a problem at the Murphy.

Although the differences in use are a function ofcomplex causes, there are strong indications that thephysical design for the open space is an important fac-tor. In the next chapter, we will look at how the Char-acteristics of the different schools influence the usepatterns.

To structure that analysis, we have categorized thedifferent types of activities described in the scenarioto allow a systematic review of the differences betweenschools. This list is not all-inclusive but reflectsthe most important functions of open space.

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RECESS:

Ten Functions of Open Space

A short period of free play for approximately 200kids supervised by four teachers. The kids willprobably play in small groups: boys mock fighting,shooting baskets, playing games, and girls sittingtalking, jumping rope. The teachers will stand andsupervise from good vantage points.

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TRAK SPORTS: These games require standardized playing surfaces(including physical and equipment; i.e., basketball, softball, and soc -education) cer. Spectators and periliheral activities should be

expected, and spectator areas (e.g., bleachers) con-sidered.

INFORMAL PLAY:

HANGING:(non-threatening)

HANGING:(threatening)

These activities include pick-up street hockey, prac-tise shooting a puck, batting practise, hide-and-seek,basketball or football practise, punchball, etc.

This first type of hanging is the sitting, waiting,and watching variety which Characterizes much of theopen space activity. Kids wait for friends to showup before starting a game or sit and watch other gamesor street life. It takes place out in the open and aprimary purpose is to interact with passers-by.

This kind of hanging is characterized by small groupshiding in corners drinking, smoking, and plotting re-venge on the school, cops, or other offensive elementsof society. It represents a threat to others usingthe open space or to neighbors and is often costly interms of theft and destruction.for the school.

PARKING: Parking cars far school or community activities.

2 0

CIRCULATIONi

MAINTEW.SCE:

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This includes lining-up before school begins, aswell as getting from one part of school open spaceto another. Teachers fear long walks to parking lots.Long walks to and from recess can use up a significantpercentage of the time intended for energy-releasingfree play. Cruising from one area to another is animportant part of life in the open space.

Though kids and other users rarely engage in maintenrmace, it is a significant activity which is substan-tially impacted by the design. Custodians responsiblefor keeping school open spaces clean claim they do nothave the time or staff to do the work. Consequently,most open spaces are inadequately maintained.

VANDALISM: Property damage, particularly intentional destruction,is a serious problem at some schools.

NO USE: Ir some spaces virtually nothing happens, not evenhanging out. It is important to include this '%Ikull"activity in this set because it represents the fre-quent wasting of space around rnmmunity schools.

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Chapter Two

OPEN SPACEOPPORTUNITIES

Having sketched out the functions which commun-ity school open spaces perform, we now look specifi-cally at how the actual conditions at the seven com-nunity schools studied support or discourage thesefunctions. Some open spaces provide ample opportun-ities for recess, others provide better opportunitiesfor team sports. A couple of the schools are notableprimarily for the sukport they lend to muggers. Therange.of conditions and the differences between schoolsis impressive. With a better understanding of whatcharacteristics of open spaces support various acti-vities, designers are in a much better position tocreate environments which will support those activitiesdesired by both the community and the school.

RECESS:

TEAM SPORTS:

INFORMAL PLAY:

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Agassiz School

The Agassiz has very little hard-topped openspace, only the basketball court. However, there isa readily accessible field for use in good weather,and the totlot with the timberform equipment appearsto be one of the most popular outdoor areas at any ofthe schools.

The field is good for softball and other teamsports requiring such a facility. However, the pri-mary users are the PRD leagues, not the school or com-munity program. (ilmen asked about "their" field,

members of the Community School Council aaked, "Whatfield?")

The basketball court is very small, so that itcould not be used for any tournament games.

The field, totlot, and basketball court attracta lot of informal play. (The principal orders allkids off the timberform equipment at 8:15 because theequipment is so popular that someone is likely to gethurt!)

HANGING: There is a proportionate amount of watching acti(non -threatening) vity. Kids sit on the bleachers by the field, at the

sitting areas between the edge of the field and thestreet, and on the sidewalks and embankuents by thebasketball court. Groups of young kids also sit aroundthe eastern side of the school, typically smoking ciga-rettes.

HANGING:(threatening)

It was one of the prides of the Council that eheirnew coordinator had vanquished the gangs of kids whoused to frequent the school open space., Sothe of thetrouble areas have been the courtyard behind the schooland an old barn that was behind the parking lot. The

2 3

PARK/NG:

CIRCULATION:

MAINTENANCE:

VANDALISM:

NO USE:

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courtyard used to have plexiglass doors but bubble gumsoaked with lighter fluid was used to bura through theplexiglass. The doors are now all steel.

The parking lot has new lights and the "barn"which had been a favorite hanging spot there has beentorn down so that now the parking lot is unable atnight. Even so, it is insufficient in size for meet-ings at night, according to Council members.

Circulation around the school presents no specialproblems. The ballfield fence is well-designed sothat there are frequent opportunities to enter thefield, yet the fence prevents balls from escaping.

There is relatively little open space for whichthe school is responsible. The major problem area isthe bleachers by the field, which is used heavily andcovered with glass but only infrequently cleaned byPRD.

The back court -ard is the outdoor area in whiChthere has been the greatest vandalism problem. Also,as windows in the office area of the school are broken,they are being replaced with steel plates.

The only area not used is the lot connecting toSouth Street. Though thought of initially as a valu-able connection to South Street, it does not seem toserve that function. One attempt was made to planta small garden in one part, but the garden was "pre-maturely harvested".

24

9g

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en"If/7001/052755V9/u.L--J

ri-NIrireinr---'-1nnrill

RECESS:

TEAM SPORTS:

INFORMAL PLAY:

RANGING:(threatening)

HANGING:(non-threatening)

Hennigan School

The areas immediately around the school are toosmall, not level enough, covered with swatches ofhard-top and imnense sandboxes (completely unusable).There is no equipment, but the principal was not in-terested in obtaining any. Kindergarten recess areasare too small.

The PRD field is occasionally used by older clas-ses, but it is too far away, there are other groupsto contend with, and security is an issue.

The PRD field is sufficient for most field games,but markings are needed. The basketball court is anancient wreck. There are no physical education teach-ers, SO the school rarely uses the field for teamsports. The community coordinator had enough to.worryabout on the inside of the school.

Children were almost never observed playing nearthe sandbox and hard-top areas around the school.

Sometimes kids play on the broken swings andother equipment in the far corner of the PRD field.

The corner by the garage entrance and air condi-tioner is the clearest example of a threatening hang-ing area. Visibility into the area is poor becauseof pillars, overhanging building, and air conditioner.Even the main front entrance becomes a threateningarea after school is out because there is no'activityalong the street. The gully and corners by the gymentrance are also a problem after-hours.

Kids often congregate at the far corner of thePRD field. The proximity of the totloti -liome plate,the field house and the basketball court bring a lotof activities together.

27

PARKING:

CIRCULATION:

MAINTENANCE:

VANDALISM:

21

Sometimes a similar situation develops aroundthe gym and swimming pool entrance.

The parking lot at the Hennigan is located closeto the building and, in part, under the building, butdamage and theft are such serious probless that a per-son is hired to watch over, the parking lot from a sec-ond floor window. The darkness of the covered sectionof the parking lot may foster such problems, but other-wise the design would not seem particularly prone tocrime.

The pass-through along the gully past the gymentrance is not as problematic as that at the Hollandbecause there is better visibility and more activity,at least during the day.

Many of the outdoor areas are forsaken; for ex-ample, the large sandbox which collects broken glass,dog feces, and washes down into other areas appearsnever to be cleaned. The hanging corners collect alot of litter, but otherwise maintenance problems arenot unusual.

There is a great dcal of difficulty with thedoors, also, with access and damage to the roof, whichhad originally been designed with a playground. Partof the difficulty with the doors is their low visibil-ity from the street--making them prone to being tam-pered with.

NO USE: The areas to the north and southeast of theschool, intended for recess, are rarely used.

2 8

RECESS:

TEAM SPORTS:

INFORMAL PLAY:

HANGING:(non-threatening)

HANGING:(threatening)

22

Holland School

The most valued recess area has been the basket-ball/tennis court behind the school. Up until recently,it was the only extended hard-top area. Unfortunately,it is distant from the school entrance mad there havebeen conflicts with neighborhood people wanting to usethe court. The new hard-top should improve the situa-tion.

The areas in front are rarely used because of thelevel changes, rocks, paths, and trees which break upthe space. When wet, the teachers will not use theareas because the dirt turas into mud.

The only team sport area is the basketball court,which can be transformed into a tennis court if thecommunity coordinator brings out the poles and nets.The baskets have sometimes been removed fram the back-boards. No playing area is large enough for a soft-ball game.

Kids were rarely observed playing on the Hollandopen space. Occasionally, kids would pass through,but the only area used for games was the small parkinglot to the east of the school. A small punchball fieldhas been created using drain grids and some dhalk mark-ings for bases. The reason for the selection of thisarea is probably because it is readily visible and ac-cessible from adjacent homes.

Only limited opportunities, but one location wasalong the sidewalk at the northeast corner of the siteon Olney Street.

In contrast, there were many opportunities forthis type of hanging: the gullies betWeiti-buildingand embankment, the pass-through, the corners created

31

2 3

by the complex configuration at the rear of the build-ing, and particularly the entranceways, which aresheltered (invisible) until one is right upon them.

PARKING: There were complaints that the parking was in-sufficient, and teachers feared for their cars andtheir personal security.

CIRCULATION:. The gullies and pass-through are such a securityproblem that they are perceived of as being good cir-culation routes for criminals only.

MAINTENANCE: The custodian is frustrated by the continualcrumbling of the pudding stone embankments, which pro-vide an unlimited supply of projectiles. The main ef-fort is to keep the hard-top usable.

VANDALISM: The Rolland has just about given up trying to re-place the lighting which has been completely destroyedrepeatedly, so that many people will not come to theschool at night. Attempts to put up lightweight fen-

.ces to control movement in the front yard have onlyled to the destruction of the fences.

NOUSE: The front yard seems rarely used, except by thosewho would vandalize it. The back yard, where the sur-faces are more suitable for use, seene dceinated bysmall groups of teenagers. The back yard is not vis-ible from anything except industrial lots and thetrain tracks.

3 2

Figure 3

HOU4NDmtt TIN á-Nows #IL

3 3

rti

RECESS:

TEAM SPORTS:

INFORMAL PLAY:

24

Kent School

The kindergarten teachers rarely use the openspaces intended for their classes, because they aretoo small and the sandboxes are filthy and filled withbroken glass.

The older kids use the large area along BunkerHill Street. Boys and girls are separated. The spaceis cramped. Sometimes the boys use the area to theside of the school; the high wall is a good "home runwall" for punchball.

The "pit" is not used much because shards ofglass are embedded in the surface, and trash is hardto clear out of it. The pit-tunnel is off-limits, inany case.

Recess is sometimes cancelled, because the litteris so bad.

There is not enough space for any team sportsexcept basketball. Unfortunately, the baskets aretoo low and the court too sloped for tournaments.Nevertheless, the basketball court is about the onlysurface which is consistently free of glass, and thelights around the court are the only anes unbroken.

The spaces at the Kent seem to be best for infor-mal play. Boys shoot hockey pucks into the corners ofwalls and windows, kids sit along the walls, and thebasketball court is always crowded. Punchball andstreet hockey are played frequently; the irregularspaces do not cause a serious problem, especially foryounger children. In fact, because the spaces are ir-regular, the younger kids don't have as much competi-tion from the older kids, who prefer the larger andregulation-size facilities.

Very young children do not have mad)? 'gay oppor-tunities; there is no totlot. However, several people

3 4

25

interviewed felt that a totlot would cause more troublethan it was worth, given the maintenance difficultiespresently occurring.

HANG/NG: The Kent open space is a great meeting place for(non-threatening) kids of all ages. Young kids will gather at the top

of the stairs (along Tremont Street) and watch theaction below, sometimes waiting until they have enoughnumbers to swoop down and take over the punchball area.Older kids hang by the basketball court and the commun-ity school entrance. Small groups were frequently seensitting in the corners created by the kindergarten en-trances.

HANGING:(threatening)

PARKING:

CIRCULATION:

MAINTENANCE:

The niches created by the kindergarien entrances,the easily accessible roof, and other hidden areasbehind the school offer ample opportunity for maliciousactivities." Bottles are tossed from the rooftop intothe pit and generally all over the ground; also, occa-sionally at passers-by.

The parking lot behind the school is consideredinadequate and unsafe by some teachers. A major prob-lem is access from it to the school. Also, the lot isgenerally unobservable from the school--several teachershave had their cars stolen.

Although it was intended ehat people be able towalk through from Bunker Hill Street to Tremont Street,older people will walk all the way around the block toavoid having to pass the teenagers hanging at the school.

Maintenance is a major difficulty. The custodianscannot keep ahead of the broken glass and litter. Someareas, such as the sprinkler pool and the hidden "A"area on the plan (Figure 4) haye been written off asdumps and are not cleaned. The steps and grade changesmake use of the automatic sweeping machine virtuallyimpossible. Little ramps put in between levels allevi-ate this problem somewhat, but some areas must still becleaned with a broom because of their Size-and shape.

VANDALISM:

NO USE:

26

The community coordinator fought to get trashbarrels, but once she got them it was impossible toget them emptied. They func ion more like fireplacesthan trash barrels, and prob ly create more damagethan there would have been w)thout thtm.

Programa to involve students in the maintenancehave been received with little enthusiasm by the cus-todians. The kids aupposedly don't help much, and thecustodians did not feel that the program reduces litteror vandalism.

The Kent is one of the few schools where one cango and routinely observe vandalism. Breaking bottlesor pulling branches off trees seem more like informalplay than acts of premeditated destruction. All ofthe lights, except those over the basketball court,are broken. The explanation for the long life of thebasketball court lights is clearly their value whileworking. Other lights are better broken, especiallythose by the kindergarten entrances which, once broken,make excellent hand and foot holds on the way to theroof.

Though the Kent open space is otherwise intensivelyused, the sprinkler pool is always full of debris. Thepipes to the sprinkler were put in wrong and then bro-ken, so the area usually serves no other function thanas a dump.

3 6

RECESS:

TEAK SPORTS:

INFORMAL PLAY:

27

Lee School

The space provided for the elementary grades ismuch too small, yet the space for the kindergarten isdisproportionately generous. Relocating the fencebetween the tw.) could rectify part of the problem.The kindergarten area has several pieces of play equip-ment, most of which the teachers consider a hazard.The sandboxes are nav three-foot holes with debris inthe bottom.

The recess area used to open onto Franklin Field,but there were such problems with kids running offthat a fence was installed. The area now works betterfor the teachers, but it is overcrowded.

Occasionally, some of the male teachers take theirclasses out to use the field, but women teachers aregenerally afraid to go out onto the field.

Though Franklin Field is certainly adequate formany team sports, the field is not used much by theschool or the community programs. The community coor-dinator felt he had all he could do to keep the indooractivities coordinated, given the lack of adequatesupervision. They were trying to develop some out-door activities. One problem was that the activitiesout on the field attracted a lot of people who wouldhalf participate and half disrupt.

There is no decent outdoor basketball court nearthe school. Franklin Field has a court, but the sur-face is cracked badly and the baskets have long sincebeen ripped off the deteriorating backboards.

Virtually none was observed around the school,except an occasional kid wandering off the field,digressing to run across the totlot area.

3 9

HANGING:(non-threatening)

HANGING:(threatening)

MAINTE14ANCE:

CIRCULATION:

VANDALISM:

28

There are usually several kids sitting around infront of the community school entrance and even morein the parking area. Generally, however, there is notmuch going on around the school, either for activityor for watching.

It was the community coordinator's rule of thumbthat if kids were hanging out behind the school, therewaa trouble brewing. The hidden corners around thebuilding and the ancient and crubbling bleachers atthe edge of Franklin Field provide a supporting envi-ronment should the need arise.

There is often much broken glass in the parkingarea and some in the kindergarten area. However, com-pared to some of the schools this is a relatively minor,problem here. /n addition, the principal keeps a con-tingency fund (acquired by selling the children's artwork) for making minor repairs. She prefers this tothe agency red tape present in making a repair request.

The fact that it is necessary to head down a patharound to the back of the building to get to the playarea probably accounts for much of its underutilization.

Destruction of property was not mentioned as amajor problem, perhaps because the place is so infre-quently used, but perhaps for other reasons (e.g.,the.relationship between the community program andthe kids in the area). The community coordinatorsaid that only a few things had been stolen from thecommunity program and most had been recovered.

NO USE: The back side of the school is rarely used, asmentioned above.

4 0

RECESS:

TEAM SPORTS:

/MFORMAL PLAY:

29

Marshall School

The combination of spaces available at the Mar-shall School provide a good range of opportunities forrecess. The totlot serves the kindergarten classeswell. The basketball court works well for the olderchildren. The bleachers and overlooking entrance areaprovide good promontories from which the teachers canwatch over the children. The field is rarely used forrecess, but occasionally in good weather, kids areallowed onto the near two-thirds of the field. (Thereis a rule against using the far third, because it dis-turbs one of the neighbors, who complains a lot).

The field and the basketball court work well fora wide range of team sports, including softball, foot-ball, basketball and street hockey. Teenagers herehave occasionally broken the basketball hoop or re-moved the backboards; .they say this is in'protest ofthe poor quality of this equipment. By forcing thecity to replace the broken apparatus, they hope toreceive better next time. Of the two basketball courts,the larger has regulation height baskete and is usedmuch more frequently for games. The smaller court,with low baskets, is used more for street hockey. Thecoordinator thought that it was a good idea to havelow baskets on one court for use by younger kids; how-ever, we rarely observed anyone using the low baskets.The low baskets were heavily vandalized several times,perhaps because they were not usable.

The entire east side of the school works well forinformal play. Even the parking lot on the south sideis used extensively for street hockey. There are goodopportunities for sitting and ,watching; also, forcruising between activities. The two streets are linedwith residences, so that plenty of supervision fromthe neighbors is available.

4 2

)

..m.a..11.

4 4

HANGING:(non-threAttening)

HANGING:(threatening)

PARKING:

CIRCULATION:

MAINTENANCE:

VANDALISM:

30

There is a lot of hanging around, watching acti-vities and waiting for friends. Particularly popularplaces are at the top of the bleachers by the commun-ity program entrance and at the northeast corner ofthe field, where there is a view out to an active resi-dential street, as wtll as over the field.

There are also opportunities for more threateninghanging activities. There is a courtyard behind theschool which reportedly has been used as a place tostrip and abandon stolen automobiles. Corners aroundthe entrance to the multi-purpose roam support threat-ening hanging activity, too.

The south parking lot is rarely full duringschool hours, but the read= is not that the spacesare not needed; rather, because of muggings, teachersand staff tend to park on the grass by the serviceentrance.

Circulation is particularly good on the southside of the school, because all the areas are connec-ted by ramps. These are used frequently by kids onbicycles cruising between activities around the schooland in the neighborhood. The fact that the main pathbetween the two streets must pass a number of darkcorners creates some difficulties at night. The fieldalso serves as a major circulation route, making main-tenance of the grass a little more difficult.

Though the maintenance of the outside is a frus-trating chore for the custodian, the design presentsno unusual maintenance problems. The custodian sug-gested hard-topping the remaining grass/dirt areasaround the edge of the school, because they were soheavily travelled that no grass could grow and thedirt gets tracked into the building.

When the school first opened, there were manyvandalism problemS, including the theft pf_ttees andturf. Over the years, the problem has subsided some-what, perhaps because the novelty has worn off, per-

4 5

31

haps because an active community program was estab-lished. One particular problem mentioned by the cus-todian was the damage to roof-top equipment by kidswho had climbed onto the roof.

The major unused area is the u -shaped courtyardbehind the school. It is not used during school hours,because the activity is disturbing to the classes; itis not used after hours, because it is invisible fromthe street and palpably an unsafe area. The majorreasons for going back there are to hang out, to setup a ladder to the roof, or to attempt illegal entryinto the school.

4 6

knutim io

4

4

DaM,

/*FALL Sel7C01-p(),Ete-s-rgz (2)

.

-1'LO

4 8

RECESS:

TEAM SPORTS:

HANGING:

32

Murphy School

The recess area for the Murphy School is thesmall side.yard to the south of the school. The areais too small for the number of kids who must use it.A kindergarten teacher found she could rarely take herkids out because they were overrun by older children.The immediate adjacency of Morissey Boulevard causesa good deal of concern, too. Sometimes things arethrown out onto the highway. Children have been knownto trip over the semicircular curb in the recess areawhich is intended for sitting. Moreover, drainage inthis area is poor and much of it is a "swimming pool"for several days after a rain. There were seriousaccidents on the heavy steel gates until they were re-moved.

When the school was first built, teachers triedtaking their classes to the field for recess, but thedistance proved too great.

They are hoping to black-top at least part of thearea behind the school, making it usable in all weather.

The field is big but is cut up by a Little Leaguefield; the more usable spaces are further from theschool. When the school was built there was a bigpush to fix up the field. However, there have beenconflicts and confusion between MDC and PRO over whowould be reaponsible and who would pay. A Councilmember said that things were so bad at one point thatone of the agencies had to come to the community groupbecause it could not find any copies of its plans.

There is relatively little hanging around theMurphy and no reports of probleus. The most commonhanging area is right in front of the school by theCommunity Program entrance. There was evidence aswell of groups hanging out by entranceways!behind theschool.

49

33

PARKING: The available lot is usually packed, but adequacy

of the lot was not raised as a special problem.

MAINTENANCE: The layout of the grounds does not present spe-cial maintenance problems. There seems to be less

litter around this school than others. Maintenance

of the field is limited and largely beyond the control

or influence of the school or community program staff.

The custodians have tried to minimize this chore by

refusing to unlock the toilet facilities located on

the north side of the building.

VANDALISM: There were few complaints of vandalism, savesome breaking in through the law windows.

CIRCULATION:

NO USE:

The only circulation problem is in getting from

the classrooms (at the south end of the building) to

the usable areas of the field (the northern portion).

The spaces behina the school are not used much

because the ground is naturally soggy. However, this

may change if part of the area is black-topped.

5 0

34

Design Recommendations

The quality of the open spaces at existing com-munity schools is generally low: many of the functionssupported by the environment are not those intended by

the designers or PFD. At many schools, a large pro-portion of the users are probably people it had beenhoped would not come around, and the condition of thenew facilities has deteriorated rapidly.

Since so many of the problems encountered stemfrom a failure to provide usable spaces, it is worth-while to examine the ten primary open space activitiesin terms of the characteristics of outdoor spaces whidhcreate or eliminate the opportunities for their occur-rence. With the problem of limited available spaceand a lot of pressure to fit open space functions with-in minimal amounts of land, it is essential to under-stand how the environment can most effectively createthe needed opportunities for open space activities.On the following pages, patterns in the effectivenessof the seven school open spaces are analyzed and cri-teria suggested for the ten activities.

Analysis

35

Recess

Hard-top surfacing is considered by principals,teachers and custodians as essential for recess. In

addition, the patterns of informal play at times otherthan recess suggest that hard-top areas serve Children'spreferences as well. Such surfaces are easily main-tained, allow for a wide variety of activities, and canbe used under all weather conditions.

The staff at four of the seven schools studiedcomplained that their hard-topped areas were too smalland/or too oddly-shaped to be useful for recess pur-poses. Only at the Kent, Holland, and Marshall schools,were the recess areas described as adequate in this re-spect.

Given a ratio of four teachers per 250 kids, mostteachers find themselves unable to do more than spendtheir time keeping tha number of accidents and disap-pearances at a minimum.* Supervision becomes theirprimary concern. The recess area must be totally andeasily visible from several locations, and must beclearly delimited, not necessarily by insurmountablefences, but at least by demarcations whiCh can be refer-ence points. Sometimes substantial boundaries areneeded: at the Lee School, a line between the recessarea and Franklin Field did not prevent children from

*As a means of control, rules and restrictionsare often imposed. For example, at the Kent Schoolboys and girls are separated for recess as this isfelt by the principal to be most advantageous foreach group and for control purposes. At the Marshall,students are allowed to go two-thirds of the way downthe ballfield. They are not allowed access to thefinal third because of complaints -raised by one neigh-bor. In order to avoid "trouble", the rule is made.This is not unusual for the School Department, whichcontinually sets up limitations on schoolyard use,not to protect itself from legal battles--from whichit is immune--but from the constant hasble-Of parentalcomplaints.

5 2

36

cutting out to Franklin Field during recesssome-times not returning to school. A three-foot fencewas later added.*

The recess space must be located near the en-trances to the classrooms. The PRD playgrounds aregenerally not used for recess because teachers findit impossible to bring children to and from the play-ground While still giving them an adequate playtimewithin twenty minutes. In addition, teachers feelmore confident about getting speedy help in the caseof an accident or an assault if they are in areasclose to the building.** Even when recess areas arelocated close to the bu/lding, access is a key con-sideration, especially in the larger schools. Ifclassrooms are located at the opposite side of thebuilding fram the play areas, classes will have tocross the entire length of the school to get there.

Several of the school open space layouts includespecial areas for the kindergarten classes. At theMurphy, where there were no such areas, a kindergar-ten teacher rarely took her class out because theavailable space was dominated by older kids. Specialrecess areas for kindergarten classes are recommended,but they must be sufficiently large to accommodaterecess games. At the Kent and the Hennigan, the areasare too small to be used. An arrangement such as atthe Marshall, where there is a separate totlot areafor use by young children seems like the best arrange-ment, rather than dividing the scarce land into smallspaces for each kindergarten.

*As a rather innovative attempt at solving thisproblem, the designers of the Kent School provided alow, sloping wall between the area used for recessand Bunker Hill Avenue. While the area is a good onefor sitting and playing on, it allows balls to easilystray into the busy street. Children then chase over

the wall after them. Perhaps this would have been amore workable solution on a less heavily-traffiCkedstreet.

**Staff at both the Lee and Holland schoolscited instances where colleagues had been assaultedor otherwise bothered when they had taken_classesoutside. These teachers felt more secure when closerto the building.

5 3

RecessRecommendations

37

Probably the most successful recess environmentis that at the Marshall. There are four distinctareas for different activities or groups: the tot -

lot, which is used by the kindergarten classes (whichgenerally come out one at a time to play); the basket-ball court, which is the main recess area and is easilysupervised from the bleachers or the area above thebleachers; the area above the bleachers; and the field,which can be used on good days. (rhe back courtyardis never used for this purpose because the activitywould interfere with the classes which look out onthe space.) The spaces are all well-defined, super -visable, and easily accessible. The amount and typesof equipment seem to work well.

The timberform equipment at the Agassis Schoolis very popular for recess use as well. Here, olderclasses, as well as the kindergarten, enjoy the equip -'ment. However, teachers are generally concerned aboutequipment use for safety reasons.

The least successful recess provisions are prob-ably those at the Hennigan School. The primary fea-tures,'the gargantuan.sandboxes, are unusable. Therest of the area is further chopped up by hard-topareas that are too small for most groups. The kinder-garten sections, concrete platforms outside the kin-dergarten rooms, are too small for any real use. The

PRD field is too distant and is often being used byother community groups.

The program should anticipate the numbers of childrenhaving recess at one time, as this will vary, depend-ing on the total number of students at the school.However, in the event that this information is notgiven, present practices indicate that the designershould anticipate about 200-250 children to be letout for recess at one time. Since many.of thesechildren "run wild" at this time, the area must ac-commodate a large, moving crowd, both safely and com-fortably.

Recess areas must be easily supervisable. They mustbe totally visible from several locations:in the re-cess area; hidden corners should be avoided.

5 4

38

aoundary demarcations are also useful for supervisionpurposes. This might be a low wall, a fence, steps,or a level change. This boundary should not be insur-mountable, but it should also not be too easily sur-mounted.

Recess areas should not be combined with physical edu-cation areas as recess occurs throughout the day,thereby preempting physical education uees. The regu-lation-sized fields and courts used by the communityprogram in the evenings could be used for physicaleducation classes by the school during the day. This

will only be successful, however, if the administra-tive issue is resolved of who is entitled to ues_thespace when.

Recess facilities should be located immediately adja-cent to the school building, and readily accessiblefrom classroom areas.

Hard-top is the most preferred ground surface for re-cess areas.

The practice of providing separate outdoor areas foryounger children (e.g.,,totlots and/or kindergartenareas) is a good one. However, these spaces shouldnot merely be "patios" attached to the classroom;they must be sufficiently large to allow severalclasses of very active children to play at one time.

Analysis

39

Team Sports

The adequacy of the open space for accommodatingteam sports can be generalized into the question ofwhether the space meets the regulation standards forspecific popular activities. We have found that, inmost cases, standards have not been met. Spaceswhich deviate in site, shape and/or equipment fromregulation requirements end up being used only formore informal pick-up games, if it all. The inabilityto play "real" games in these areas diminishes thevalue of the facilitiea. .The importance to the com-munity of these regulation spaces cannot be overempha-,sized. If provided, the community programs can pre-pare for and hold tournament games on their owngrounds, an activity which seems to be of importanceto almost all programs. Under the current circum-stances, several program must bus their teams toother facilities for practises and games.

The team sports we Bound to be currently popularin all neighborhoods are basketball, hockey and, inthe summer, baseball and softball. However, most ofthe schools studied were inadequately equipped for anyof these sports. Basketball courts around the commun-ity schools ars in surprisingly poor condition. Thecourts are either too small, markedly sloped, or areequipped with poor quality, broken-down backboardsand baskets which are not at the proper height.

The Marshall School sets an example of what isboth good and bad in basketball court design. On thegood side, there is a regulation-sized court (completewith lines painted by the community program), and afine set of bleachers providing a sitting area anda boundary/buffer between the courts and the rest ofthe open space. On the other,hand, ehere is also asmaller court with low baskets intended for but almostnever used by younger kids (as one seven-year oldsaid, "rhat court's just for babies."). Being unusablefor teenagers, this area is trashed and damaged. Whenthe court is in a usable state, it is iriciiently usedfor other-than-basketball purposes: e.g., for street

5 6

Team Sports

Recommendations

40

hockey. The utility of this non-regulation, alter-native court for basketball practise seems, from allthe evidence, to be dubious, at best.

It is difficult to assess the use of playingfields. For much of the year, those schools with ac-cess to fields seem to make little use of them, pri-marily due to the fact that the budget for all physi-cal education instructors has been cut. The schoolprograma at the Marshall and the Agassiz do occasion-ally use the fields in spring and fall for recess.At the other schools, where fields are nearby, theyare generally not considered to be near enough to usevery often. Greater demand is placed on the fieldsduring the summer months; however, even then many ofthe schools do not get to use the fie/ds very oftenif they belong to the PRD. League game schedulingonly allowy the community programs access to thefield for a small proportion of Lhe day. Severalcommunity coordinators felt they would like to usethe fields beyond the summertime, but PRD only main-tains its fields during that season.

Perhaps the best playing field is that at theAgassiz. The field is a good size and is very wellenclosed. The fence ib well-designed, allowing easyaccess to the feld, but containing stray balls.Other admirable features here are the sittingeareasjust outside the fence and along the street, thebleachers, and the lighting.

The location of facilities suitable for teamsports is also critical as conflicts have arisen overthe proximity of play facilities to adjacent residences.Team sports attract a good number of both participantsand onlookers; sometimes this continues /ate into thenight. Unfortunate neighbors overlooking these areas(e.g., at the Kent School) are annoyed by the noiseaccompanying the games.

It is essential that any team sport facility meetregulation standards regarding size, shape, and orien-tation. Equipment must be sturdy and meet regulationstandards. ,

5 7

41

Currently, basketball, street hockey and baseball orsoftball in the summer are the most popular sportsthroughout the city. However, the designer must in-vestigate the neighborhood surrounding the school todetermine the sports which are popular there.

Several games having similar large space requirements(e.g., football, soccer, track, field hockey) can belaid out in a single area, with boundary demarcationsin evidence for each. This would allow for maximumactivity opportunities in a single space.

For some sports (e.g., hockey), portable equipment ispreferable. Steps should be taken to ensure that thecommunity and school programs receiVe the equipment.

Ballfields and basketball courts should be enclosed.Since ballfields frequently serve as circulationroutes between streets, the enclosure must be onewhich will allow for easy access as well as keepingballs contained within (e.g., see Agassix School solu-tion).

Sitting areas should be provided near team sport faci-lities. In many cases, bleachers built into a slopehave been an excellent solution as they provide ade-quate seating as well as a barrier to keep stray ballsaway from the building and out of other play areas.

Team sport areas should be lit at night. Lightingshould be of the tall, floodlight variety.

Team sport areas should be located away from any adja-cent residences.

Analysis

42

Informal Play

Environments to support informal play need notbe as contained as recess areas, but they cannotmerely be leftover spaces. Well-defined areas areactively used and take on a significance for theusers which reflects both the physical and activityaspects of the space: e.g., in several instances,we heard kids talk about the "punchball area" or the"hockey area", although these could not be identifiedas such by physical features alone. There are somephysical requirements which are essential to considerin designing for informal play activities.

Visibility from nearby residences or street lifeis an important requirement for these areas. Visi-bility links the play area to other neighborhood ac-tivity, attracts more people to the activity, andassures emergency aid if needed. Whether the spaceis visible or not will, in part, determine whetherit is used primarily for play or prirarily for threat-ening hanging-out purposes. The armee ideally shouldbe observable from the community program's headquartersas well as from neighboring residences and streets.Because of understaffing, informal play spaces arerarely used by the community programs unless they canbe supervised from inside the building.

The spaces themselves must be large enough to domore than sit in. While they need not be regulationsize and shape like spaces for team sports, theyshould be of sufficient size and shape to permit in-formal group games (e.g., punchball) and smallerpractise activities (e.g., hockey practise). It isdifficult to anticipate all the complexitiea of in-formal play. Much of this involves the kinds ofgames mentioned above; but equally important aspectsof informal play are the accdinpanying social activi-ties of hanging-out and circulating from one activityspace to another (see relevant sections below). Theselatter activities require strong visual and/or physi-cal. interconnectians between informal play:spacesthemselves, and between these smaller spaces and larger

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43

team sport areas. In addition, features of thespaces themselves, such as benches and low walls--particularly sloping walls such as that at the KentSchool--can serve a dual purpose as both play equip-ment and social sitting areas.

The issue of whether or not the presence ofequipment--and the single purpose that this oftenimplies--enhances or detracts from the usability ofa space is open to question, since we had few exam-ples from Which to judge. It is clear, however,that equipment often presents a real maintenanceproblem. Some equipment seems almost impossible tomaintain; this is particularly true of sandboxes,which, in the city at least, become receptacles forbroken glass, cans aad animal excrement. Given thepresent custodtal workload, we question whether theeffort required to maintain sandboxes (end the dis-asterous results when they are not maintained) canbe compensated for by the pleasure derived fromplaying in them.* In other instances, kids oftendestroy equipment not perceived of as useful to them,either because it is something they would never use

totllt as viewed by teenagers), or becauseit is in useless condition (e.g., basketball back-boardil which are too low or too flimsy to withstmda real game.**) Also, much destruction is done forsheer fun.

However, it seems clear that equipment valueifor its usefulness will not be as readily lestroyed.Even so, sturdy equipment thst is able to standabuse is essential. One ia forced to conclude thata "poorly equipped" area (i.e., where equipment isdamaged or removed) is probably worse thsn ne equip-

*A common custodial response to this is simplyto remove the troublesome equipment. For example,it is not uncommon to find sandboxes hard-toppedover. At the Marshall School, the swing-frame standswithout swings, the custodian having removed them toalleviate the problem of taking them off every even-ing to.prwvent their destruct-ion.

**At the Marshall School, teenagers reporteddestroying such backboards at least in part to pointup these unsatisfactory qualities. --7

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Informal .Pla y

Recommendations

44

ment at all, as the former reflects an attitude ofneglect which often spreads epiderdcally to the restof the open Apace.

Unequipped areas can be designed to accommodateportable equipment. For example, an area that per-mits street hockey games would be valuable in mostneighborhoods of Boston, with kids bringing theirown equipment or having it provided by the communityprograma,

The most versatile and easily maintained groundsurfacing for informal play purposes is hard-top,with the one exception being in totlot areas. Here,a softer surface is favored; in cases where hard sur-facing has been used (e.g., the Lee SChool) teacherscomplain about children falling and hurting them-selves.

Finally, we ar. doubtful of the utility ofseasonal informal play spaces. At the Kent School,the spray pool is occasionally used for severalmonths during the sunmer;* for the rest of the year,it stands useless and full of litter. The custodianknows it won't be ueed, and doesn't bother to cleanit. Had this activity been combined with an activityspace less popular in the summer nonths (e.g., ahockey court), the usefulness of the area could havebeen extended to the entire year.

Informal play areas should be visible from surround-ing streets and residences. Tf possible, they shouldalso be visible from the school's community areas sothat outdoor activities can be supervised from inside.

Spaces should be level and should be large enough topermit informal group games (e.g., punchball) andsmaller practise activities (e.g., hockey practise).

*It is used not without difficulty, however.The skid-proof, rough surfacing of the pool collectsglass bits which are impossible to remove,: A plasticlining has had to be placed over this surface forsafety reasons.

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a Equipment:

Assume equipment will receive both hard use andabuse. Also assume that custodians would ratherremove troublesome equipment than maintain it.

Avoid equipment that cannot be maintained easily,or which is useless or dangerous in an unmain-tained state. A good example of this is sand-boxes. Is sand play worth the effort needed tokeep the boxes clean?

Use only top quality equipment. In the end,this is cheaper,to use, due to savings on replace-ments. This includes not only the equipment it-self, but also the way it is assembled.

Play equipment should not be avoided as a liabil-ity and potential troublespot. In those sthoolswhich have it, the play equipment is heavily used,and appreciated by the younger children. At thesame time, it must be sturdy and able to withstandabuse from both tots and older children.

Do not overequip the open space; only provideequipment whose use can be clearly anticipated,and place. this in areas where use will be enhanced(considering size of space, shape of space, etc.).Only useful equipment stands the chance of re-maining undamaged. No equipment at all is better,therefore, than unused equipment.

Ground Surfaces:

Hard-top' is the most preferred ground surface forall activities other than totlots and those forwhich a field is a must (e.g., baseball, track,football, soccer).

Softer surfaces (e.g., woodchips) should be usedin totlnt areas. Grass is not an acceptablesolution, as it gets worn away quickly. The sur-face material must be easy to clean. If lightmaterials like woodchips.are-used, periodic re-placement costs must be considered.

Avoid rubberized surfaces. They are difficult toclean (they soften in warm weather and.brokenglass becomes embedded in them), And-Can be cutand otherwise damaged relatively easily.

46

Provide sitting areas near informal play areas.

Some of the informal play spaces might be locatedadjacent to team sport areas in order to maximizethe "people-watching" function of the open space.However, clear separations between the areas mustbe provided to avoid activity conflicts.

Avoid facilities that can be used only on a singleseason basis (e.g., spray pool areas). Incorporatesuch activities into spaces which can alternate usewith the changing seasons: e.g., a spray nozzle ina hockey area where hockey is not played in the summer months.

Analysi s

Hanging (non-threatening)

Though hanging-out is commonly conceived of asan illicitly inspired, anti-establishment activity,much of it is best understood as an extension of in-formal play. The opportunity to meet friends and findout what's happening draws as many kids as a game it-self. School open space can be an important placewhere kids can gather without invading the territoryof shopkeepers or parents.

This type of hanging develops around centers ofactivity such as a basketball game, community schoolentrance, or street life. It is inextricably tiedto these activities. Onlookers will watch a game,possibly waiting their turn, and players will takebreaks to rest or talk with friends.

An area which works well in this regard is thebleachers at the Marihall School. They are locatedbetween the community program entrance and the bas-ketball courts, and there is a good view across theplaying fields and onto the streets. A natural separ-ation, particularly a rise in elevation, between theactivity and the hanging area creates a very desirablemeeting space. This is true in the case of the bleach-ers at the Marshall School and also in the hangingarea along Tremont Street at the Kent School whichoverlooks the activities below.

Visual connections to the street and surroundingneighborhood are also important. If the area is vis-ible from residences and the street, it is less likc.ythat threatening activities will take place. Also,if passers-by can see that the hanging is clearly re-lated to the activity it is less likely to be per-ceived as a threat.

To support non-threatening hanging, a placeshould be linked both to activities and to the sur-rounding neighborhood. These factors appear mostcrucial in differentiating areas which,supOort non-threatening hanging from areas supporting threatening

Hanging (non-

threatening)Recommendations

48

hanging. One of the best illustrations of this isthe area by the entrance to the gym and pool at theHennigan School. This area supports both types ofhanging: During the day, when the community programis going strong, there is a natural gathering on thebank running from the street to the entrance. Atnight, the place is dead except for the occasionalglow from cigarettes or 'joints'.

Create sitting areas (riot necessarily benches) aroundheavily used spaces, in full view of neighboring resi-dences and other street life.

Utilize changes in elevation to create overlooks fromwhich to observe ongoing'activities. Keep in mindthat these areas must be easily maintainable.

Anticipate hanging around focal points such as commun-ity school entrances. These focal points should bevisible from the neighborhood, and sheltered sittingareas might be provided.

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Analysis

49

Hanging (threatening)

There are areas around most schools which sup-port a form of hanging which people tend to perceiveas threatening. Not only do the elderly avoid theseareas, they are rarely used by children.

The kinds of spaces which support threateninghanging activities are the back sides and hidden cor-ners of school buildings. Typically, there is limitedvisibility into these areas, though there may be goodvisibility to the outside. Roof-tops, for example,create invisible lookouts. Classic examples includethe rear courtyard at the Marshall School and theAgassiz School. At the Marshall, stolen cars havebeen stripped in this space. At the Agassiz, theyhave replaced the plexiglass in the doors with steelsheets, because kids have burned through the plexiglassand broken in.

Major recreation areas at several schools havegone unused because the spaces have been more suppor-tive to a few teenagers than to neighborhood kids ingeneral. The Lee and Holland playgrounds are locatedbehind the schools and are invisible from neighboringresidences or the street.

Unfortunately, several site plans have createdthese areas along circulation paths leading to therear of the school. For example, the pass-throughsat the Holland School from the front to the back cre-ates several niches that are frequented by threateningteenagers. As a result, not only the path but thespace behind is less usable.

Factors other than visibility fram the street,particularly the location of community program acti-vities, will affect the use of a space; some spaceswill be safe and popular while community program acti-vities are taking place, but threatening otherwise.The Holland and Hennigan community programs generateactivity in otherwise all-but-deserted.areas.

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Hanging

(threatening)Recommendations

50

To be sure, other factors influence the tendencyfor teenage kids to strip stolen cars, break and en-ter, or smoke dope around school. Several communitycoordinators noticed that ehe availability of programsreduced troubles with gangs of kids. At one school,

a new coordinator reduced hanging-out by consistently

evicting kids. But these were vivid instances in whichthe design of the open space certainly went a long waytowards creating the opportunity for threatening hang-ing activities.

To reduce the opportunity for threatening hanging ac-tivity, minimize hidden corners and courtyards whichare not visible from surrounding residences or the

street.

In particular, avoid hidden corners along circulationpaths to play areas, because this may reduce the usa-bility of the playing area as well as of the circula-tion path.

In areas where it is anticipated that this type ofhanging might occur, make sure that the interior ofthe school is inaccessible (i.e., avoid windows, doors,vents, etc.).

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Analysis

ParkingRecommendations

51

Parking

Teachers at most schools voiced concern thatparking lots were not safe places, for them personally

or for their cars. At several schools, there werereports of assaults and car thefts. Problems have

developed in many neighborhoods when the parking lot

has been too distant or not in an open, visible loca-

tion. At the Marshall School, teachers and staff

park on the grass and sidewalk rather than in the far

lot. At the Kent School, the lot is set in a back

alley, accessible only through the service entrance

or a narrow path along the side of the building. The

community council at the Agassiz noted that their

parking lot was a lot safer after a deterioratingbarn alongside the lot, formerly used for hanging out

in, was torn down and lights were installed.

The capacity of the lot is also a problem at

most schools. Not ohly do teachers complain, but

community councils said that people Won't come to

meetings at night because there is inadequate parking.

Another consideration in designing parking lotsis that they are often used after-hours as play areas

for street hockey, punchball or other games. Some-

times, kids have even painted markings on the lots

for games; for example, at the Kent and the Holland

schools. Parking lots should be designed with this

use in mind.

a Parking lots should be near the school and visible

from the school offices and neighboring residences to

reduce the chances of assault and theft.

Provide adequate parking space, not only for teachers

but for evening meetings.

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52

Design parking lots to accommodate informal play(see recommendations under informal play, hanging,and circulation).

Provide sturdy lighting of parking lot areas and ofpaths connecting parking areas to cammunity entrances.

Analysis

CirculationRecommendations

53

Circulation

Usable, attractive, and safe circulation routesaround schools are essential. Without good circula-tion, play areas are less usable, being more difficultto get to. But circulation can be a lot more than asafe way to get to an activity; it can be an importantactivity in its own right. The various hanging andactivity areas at the Marshall School are connectedby siflewalks and ramps, along which kids cruise framgroup to group checking up on what has been happeningand passing the word. Also, there is a lot of bikeand motorbike riding as an end in itself. The oppor-tunity for bike, motorbike, and go-cart riding can be '

created by linking areas with ramps instead of steps,and by cutting.curbs.

For all circulation, on bike or on foot, theroute must be open and visible. Hidden corners gener-ate fears for., if not actual risks to, personal secur-ity.

If a route is intended for use by the elderly, itshould be especially non-threatening--avoiding heavyactivity or hanging areas. At the Kent School, olderpeople will walk around the block rather than throughthe open space.

Finally, many circulation problems stem from im-proper location of spaces. At the schools sited nextto parks, the playing fields were too distant from theclassrooms for use during recess. Parking lots areunused bT,cnuse they are accessible only through longor unsaf . rculation paths.

Design circulation as an activity for kids. Eliminatearchitectural barriers to bicycles so that kids cancruise from one activity to anot!)er.

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54

Circulation paths must be safe: visible and open.Avoid hidden corners adjacent to pathways. For elder-ly persons, circulation paths must go around ratherthan through activities, and should particularlyavoid hanging areas.

Minimize the need for circulation areas by placingneeded activity spaces in easily-accessible areas--e.g., play facilities might be located in front ofthe school, rather than behind it.

Provide inaccessible, sturdy lighting along all cir-culation paths.

Analysis

55

Maintenance

This is a major component of open space usabil-ity: spaces which are poorly maintained are virtuallyuseless. With the lack of attention generally givenby custodians to outside areas, a designer must assumethe worst with regard to maintenance issues. Outdoorspaces most be easy to care for, with a minimum ofeffort. All of the schools studied had difficultymaintaining their open space areas, but the most dif-ficult areas to maintain were those which were small,oddly-shaped, aud on different levels. A prime exampleof this is the Kent School. Here, the custodian hasa machine for picking up litter; however, it will notfit into many of the spaces, nor can it go betweenthe different levels. Therefore, much of the totalarea mint be swept by hand--a time-consumirig job atthe Kent School.

Under the issue of maintenance, several wordsshould also be said about lighting. This is a diffi-cult question, because it embodies a conflict betweentwo user groups--the teenagers, who generally preferto hang around the school in the dark, and have greatfun taking pot shots at the lights; and the communityadults, who are afraid to park at and approach an un-lit school where people might be lurking in the dafk.Several community representatives have complainedabout this, yet most of the schools Observed had fewlights in working condition. We did note, however,that in areas used by teenaggrs at night and for whichlight was needa--(e.g., basketball courts), these were,indeed, working. In addition, some of the tallerfloodlights installed at a few schools (e.g., on thebasketball court of the Kent School) seem to be moredifficult to destroy.

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Maintenance

Recommendations

56

Assume the worst: custodians will probably not spendmuCh time maintaining outdoor open space. These areasmust, therefore, be maintainable with a minimum ofeffort.

Avoid small, irregularly-shaped areas that are diffi-cult to get cleaning machines into.

Avoid multi-level areas, including many steps. Ifdifferent levels are specified, provide easy means ofaccess for cleaning equipment.

Do not specify equipment that is easy to litter anddifficult to dean: e.g., sandboxes.

Avoid large Unprogrammed spaces, particularly in areasthat are not easily visible from the street. Thesewill most likely be used for hanging out in and willcollect a lot of litter.

Try to anticipate other areas where hanging will prob-ably occur. These should be accessible for easy clean-ing (i.e., few corners, few level chansgs, hard-topped).

Avoid large grassed areas in heavily-usedtheavily-lit-tered locations such as totlot areas, areas surround-ing basketball courts, hanging niches.

Avoid small grass areas in heavily-used locations:adjacent to pathways and basketball courts, or in line-up or recess areas. If used at all near pathways,grass areas might be raised above path level, or thepathways should be wide enough for 4-5 kids to walkalong at one time.

Low shrubbery beds which serve only to collect garbageshould be avoided. If shrubbery is desired, it shouldbe very thickly planted (so that rubbish cannot blowinside), cover the entire planter bed (so that youngerchildren are not tempted to dig up the exposed earth),and be hearty and coarse enough to disCourage trampling

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through. Thorny learubti are a dubious solution be-cnuse of the possib.Llity of arcidents (e.g., childrenfalling onto the shrub), and the imoossibiliy ofcleaning among them, if necessary.

Avoid siting trees in heavily-used locations (e.g.,next to basketball courts and informal play areas),or in other very active location. In other areas,plant sizeable trees--at least five-inch caliper--and provide sturdy protection for them (i.e., usedurable staking materials such as metal).

Do not finish landscaping after the school has opened.Studies have shown that significantly less damage oc-curs in landscapes completed before project completionthan in those finished after the project has been oc-cupied.

Maintain ballfields an a year-round basis, not onlyduring the summer.

Lighting:

The school and its open space areas should be litat night with inaccessibly tall, sturdy flood-lights. Smaller, less sturdy varieties generallypopular in newer schools (e.g., globe lights) areeasily destroyed, in spite of manufacturers'claims.

Special attention must be given to lighting park-ing areas, circulation paths, entrances, andfacilities which can be used at nigbt (e.g., bas-ketball courts and ballfields).

Make sure there are no dark corners, particularlynear pathways. Avoid trying to light a corner byitself--those wishing to hide there will findsome way to eliminate the light source. Cornersshould be shallow enough so that they can be litby the floodlights used to light the open space,in general. Tunnels should be avoided.

Analysis

58

Vandalism

Property destruction is a serious problem aroundmost of the community schools, though, as noted byJohn Zeisel,* much of it is a result of normal userather than malicious forethought. Some of thatwhich is intentional destruction is a reflection ofattitudes towards the institution and may not be easilydeterred.** But a apace which is less valuable forrecreation is more likely to be vandalized. A commonpattern is that lighting fixtures at a school will bebroken everywhere except over the basketball court.At the Marshall School, it is the low baskets, notthe regulation baskets which have been torn down. At.'

the Kant, broken bottles and other wreckage accumulateprimarily in the least usable of all spaces--thesprinkler pool.

Sone vandalism fend trashing appears to be associ-ated with threatening hanging. Rear entries whichmake good threatening4ranging areas are often thepoint at which kids will break into the school. Doorsare frequently vandalized, perhaps for their symbolicvalue, perhaps as the first step in stealing from theschool.

While heavy anger against the school as an insti-tution may be t:t motivation for some of the intentionaldestruction, pitch of it" is more light-hearted. A kidwhipping a sapling L.:me back and forth until it breaksor carefully selecting bottles out of a trash barreland pitching them at a target, often appears to be"playing", in every sense of the word. There is nolook of guilt, or hesitation to continue if seen by

*Zeisel, John. 11Designing Schools to MinimizeDamage from Vandalism and Rough Play," Schoolhouse,Vol. 15, Educaticnal Facilities Laboratory, Inc.,1974.

**In such instances, the war is only,escalated byheightening security measures. Bubble gum'and lighterfluid (or a blow torch) have more or less the same ef-fect on plexiglass as a rock has on glass.

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Vandalism

Recommendations

59

adults passing by. The only way to end that kind ofdamage would be to provide something more excitingto do.

Where vandalism is a statement of anger againstthe system, -the designer may be able to contributeby creating an environment that supports the person'sneeds, but it may be that the system must dhange insome other way. Several of the community coordinatorsfelt they were able to reduce vandalism and relatedproblems by offering good programs.

To minimize vandalism:

Avoid spaces which have no clearly useful purpose.

Follow recommendations to reduce opportunities forthreatening hang3ng (see section above).

Create.enough opportunities for other forms of playso that busting up the place won't be the only excit-ing thing to do.

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Analysis

No Use

Recommendations

60

No Use

Given the scarcity of open space areas in thecity, perhaps more distressing than vandalism is nouse at all. Nevertheless, significant amounts of theopen spaces around the community schools just are notused.

Two factors are comionly involved in discouragingany use. One is that the area is not safe to be in.Because it is invisible from the neighborhood or be-cause the path to get there is a hang-out for muggers,kids rarely used several.otherwise suitable spaces(the court and field behind the Holland, for instance).:

A second factor is that the space is not shapedsuitably for H7 games. The open space around theHennigan iz Vte': level and is chopped up by small hard-top areas and giant sandboxes. A very comnon problemis that buildings ard designed and sited in ways whichcreate small, hidden, unusable spaces. Complex formsmay create a pleasing sight, but do little for thekid looking for a place to play. Small spaces may beparticularly valuable, if linked to other activities.For example, the kindergarten areas at the Kent (thoughuseless for kindergarten recess) are good sitting areasfor kids watching other informal play.

Less commonly, but cccasionally, areas are notused because therr 'e %ales against it. At the Mar-shall, teachers It take classes out into the backcourtyard becam It disturbs other classes, and theydo not let kids use the far third of the playing fieldbecause it disturbs a neighbor.

To avoid areas that discourage use:

Open space areas should be adequate toisuptiort desiredactivities such as informal play. Small spaces may be

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6 1

quite suitable if linked to larger patterns of acti-vities.

Play areas should be visible from residences, commun-ity program offices, and street life.

Avoid designs which set up conflicts between openspace activities and others, such as classrooms.Rules may be established forbidding use.

Chapter Three

SCHOOLS NEXT TO PARKS

Policy Impetus

One of the major decisions in locating a schooland planning the open space is whether to locate theschool on its own self-sufficient site or locate iton A site adjacent to an existing playground or park.Ostensibly a mere economy of space, the decision tolocate next to a park and to rely upon the park forschool open space functions has several important im-plications. In this section, the differences between'these two kinds of open space arrangements will beexamined, with recommendations made regarding futureopen space policy.

While the practice of putting schools adjacentto existing park and/or playground facilities is rela-tively recent, it has had a significant impact on theopen space policy for community schools, with Abouthalf of Boston's elementary community schools havingbeen located in this way. Of the seven schools ob-served in this study, four (the Hennigan, Lee, Murphyand Aggssiz schools) were located near already exist-ing recreational facilities administered either bythe Parks and Recreation Department (PRD) or the Met-ropolitan itrict Commission (MDC).

In Boston, the impetus for this arrangement hasbeen that many of the neighborhoods needing newschools have been very densely developed and theamount of land needed to fulfill the open space re-quirements of the state have been generally unavail-able in these areas. By siting_the school next toexisting facilities, state requirements can be satis-fied with a minimun of land-taking.

In addition, it was hoped that this policy wouldhelp reduce some of the conflict between-'school andcommunity open space needs. In cases where community

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6 3

schools relied solely on their own open space areaswith no access to an adjoining facility, communityleaders complained about the ladk of adequate spacefor their activity needs and school administratorscomplained about the damage done to both the schooland the schoolyard by teenagers who hung around thebuilding at night. By separating the school buildingfrom the bulk of the open space facilities, it washoped that both community and schoo) complaints couldbe satisfied at once.*

In the four schools with adjoining open spaceswhich were studied, we did not find mudh support forthe notion of satisfying open space requirements vialand that was both physically and administrativelydistinct from the school. On physical grounds alone,there were several reasons for this. First, the prob-lem of distance is very real at these schools. Inthree of the four cases; principals and teathers re-ported that they rarely used the adjoining playground;primarily due to its distance from the school. Inthe space of a twenty minute recess period, theyfound it impossible to bring children to and from theplayground while still giving them an adequate periodof playtime once the,re. This is especially true atthe Murphy School, where the school entrances are atthe opposite side of the building from the field.However, even where entrance location was not as ex-treme a problem (e.g., the Hennigan and Lee schools),

*After thirty-five years in operation, the Joint-ly Operated Playgrounds Program of New York (a programsimilar to Boston's school-playground program) hasdemonstrated a third possible impetus for this arrange-ment: land-banking. In this way, the playground landis safe from development until the school feels theneed to expand, In New York when this has happened,the playgrounds have frequently been scrapped for thelarger school. As a result, although the open spaceneeds of the expanded school are even greater than theyhad previously been, the total amount of space itselfhas been drastically reduced.

The Jointly Operated Playgrounds Program seemsto be alowly dying in New York as maintenance andother administrative difficulties make the operationunviable.

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64

distance was still cited as the primary reason fornon-use of the playground facility. Tine is not theonly concern; also involved are questions of safetyand supervision as discussed earlier.* The issue ofsupervision seems to be especially complex under theseconditions. Many of the adjacent playgrounds are toolarge and open for easy supervision. At the Lee School,for example, teachers complain that when they useFranklin Field, some children cut out via the fieldfor the rest of the day. Only at the Agassiz School,where the Pt-ks and Recreation Department field isfairly close to the building (e.g., closer than th,basketball courts at the Marshall School), was dis-tance not cited as a problem. Yet even here the prin-cipal reported that they used the fields less than theother outdoor areas.

The second problem facing these schools is theamount and kinds of 02EnjilmEs still remaining aroundthem. The playgrounds tend to include large open areasfor games such as softball and areas with deterioratingpieces of totlot equipment or broken basketball courts'.They tend not to include hard-top areas suitable forrecess purposes. However, architects designing theopen space imnediately surrounding the school have notprovided hard-top areas suitable for recess either.For reasons of efficiency, convenience and safety, how-ever, most of the schools' outdoor activities occur in

*Lack of control over the open space and compe-tition with other groups for its use may lead someteachers and community coordinators to think of theopen space as being even more distant than it is.The issue of perceived distance as related to thoseproperties seen as belonging to the school versusthose which do not appears to be important here. Inmost cases, teachers of schools adjoining playgroundsco lained about this distance problem, whereas teach-er. n schools containing their own open space facili-ties never complained of this, although, in some in-stances, the distance travelled was almost the same!This suggests that the distinction between school andnon-school space leaves the teacher feeling fartheraway from the school and, hence, ess secure aboutbeing there than does use of school property, regard-less of absolute distances. One of the design elementscontributing to this sense of distance and separationis the fencing around the playground which:must becrossed in order to gain access.

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these immediately-surrounding areas. These activi-ties, moreover (e.g., recess, line-up, and sometimesphysical education) demand hard-topped areas of a largeenough size to accommodate large numbers of childrenat one time. We heard complaints from all four ofthe schools about the inadequate size of their hard-topped areas. In several case:., even if the existingareas were hard-topped, they would not be adequate forschool programs because of their size and shape. Thisis a serious concern for these schools because it lim-its not only the kinds of activities that can occuroutdoors, but also the desire to use the outside atall.

A third problem concerns equipment and the condi-tion of it. At three of the four schools,* where theadjacent playground had equipment, little, if any, wasprovided close to the school. This has been disadvan-tageous for several reasons: at the Murphy and Leeschools, the totlot and basketball facilities of theadjoining playgrounds are in very poor condition.Therefore, the students at these schools do not bene-fit from the ne,ger equipment installed at schools notforced to share adjoining facilities. At the Murphyand Hennigan schools, noreover, these facilities areso far from the school chat they have virtually no use-ful connection to it. Although the condition of thisequipment is a set-back for the school program, it isparticularly troublesome for the community program.By expecting a new community school program to useexisting community facilities, both the new programand the community as a whole feel cheated as a result.The former feels that the old worn-out, unimprovedfacilities do not meet their new and expanding needs,while the community feels it has been cheated out ofa newer and, perhaps, better facility in addition tothe existing one. A-1d many of these neighborhoods donot have enough outdoor facilities as it is. By center-ing additional demand on the existing spacevia thenew program--even less open space opportunity remains.

Use conflicts also arise with regard to thesefacilities. For the school program difficulties occurwhen community residents who are not in the schoolwish to use the "public" facilites (particularly thebasketball courts) at the same time as the school wouldlike to use them. In most cases, principals deferredfrom using these facilities rather than confront the

*The Agassiz being the exception.

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non-school users on a regular basis. The communityschool program also faces competition from generalcommunity use; it must fit its own activities withinthe Parks and Recreation Department's schedule foruse of their open space. Other league gamesnot ofcommunity school origin--are popular during the summerand keep the field schedule quite full. Because ofdifficulties with scheduling and with the conditionof equipment, the basketball and baseball league teamsof both the Agassiz and Murphy schools were bussed toother facilities for practice and for games.

The final administrative hassle here deals withmaintenance Neither school nor community programhas the authority to influence maintenance of PRD orMIIC playgrounds. In some cases, this is not a prob-lem; during the summer months, at least, these agenciesoften maintain their facilities better than the schoolcustodians maintain the school's open space areas.However, since most of the official PRD/MDC activitiesoccur during the summer, their facilities are not main-tained on a year round basis, in spite of the fact thatthey could be used by the community school-programduring other times of the year. The community coordi-nators feel they have no recourse to change this prac-tice, just as neither the school nor community programhas power to enforce,other changes to the facilitieswhich might better suit their needs.

One of the secondary rationales for locatingcommunity schools next to separate playgrounds was thatteenagers would hang around in the parks after hoursand not at the school. This issue is understandablya real concern to PFD, since kids hanging around schoolhave, in many instances, caused very costly damagestothem.

Unfortunately, we have not found any differencesin hanging activity between the two types of schools.This is not so surprising if we consider the activityitself. Observers (e.g., the Zeisel team in the Van-dalism study) have pointed out that %angers" likelyto cause trouble use three criteria in Choosing agood spot: (1) that it be a-place from which one caneasily observe Others but from which one cannoteasily observed, (2) that it be fairly comfortable asit is used for many hours; and (3) that it is securefrom intruders (cops, other adults, other:kids).Most of the ballfields and playgrounds adjoining the

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schools in the study are too open and lacking inamenities (e.g., benches) to fulfill these criteria.On the other haul, the schools with their hiddenniches, steps, bleachers, pavements and wallslean on,and roofs to climb on are much betteto this activity. In addition, the communit al

itself seems to be an attraction and a reaso-around the school. To illustrate the attractio.L ofthe school building itself plus the program, the for-mer coordinator o t Agassiz program observed thatwhile this school which formerly had been apark/playground, 1 :,. .ys been a site for neighbor-hood kids to hang 1.: cze the school had been builtmany more kids seem co (Lang there.

Policy Recommendations

Judging from the observed operations of theexisting school/playground arrangements, we wouldrecommend that the Public Facilities Department notcontinue this practice of locating new communityschools adjacent to existing parks and playgrounds.We have found, in general, that these schools adjoin-ing playgrounds, rather than being enhanced by theseadditional facilities, appear to be worse off becauseof them. Although rarely used because of problemswith distance, safety, supervision, equipment condi-tion, and conflicts of use, the mere existence ofthe playgrounds has led to the provision of minimaluseable space immediately around the school wheredemand for use is greatest. 'Consequently, these com-munity.schools feel they are inadequately equippedfor any kinds of organized outdoor activities, and,in short, that they have been cheated out of "proper"outdoor facilities.

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Problems

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More specifically, there appear to be sl.x basic

problems with this arrangement:

1. The playground is not viewed by either school orcommunity users as part of their legitimate territory;hence, issues of distance, safety and superVision be-come serious user concerns which discourke utilization,of these playground areas. These concerns seem to befounded both on physical grounds (e.g., at the Henniganand Murphy schools especially, the distances of theplaygrounds from the schools are difficult to traverseduring recess periods), and on territe al ones, where

teacLrs are clearly less comfortable_ . a public, non-school space than in one seen as part of the school'sterritory.

2. The kinds of spaces needed to meet the demands ofboth school and open space programs are not providedadjacent to the school, as these are expected to bemet by the adjoining playground. However, many ofthese spaces are either missing from or inadequatelyprovided in the playground itself; e.g., sufficienthard-top areas.

3. rae playground facilities have not been upgradedr. meet the incl:eased demand placed on them by the newschool/community center. These programs do not bene-fit from new equipment such as that installed at schoolsnot forced to share adjoining facilities. In addition,

the community as a whole must now share its old (andusually limited) facilities with additional user groups.

4. School anii ,mmunity programs usually do not ave

f. ae access to playground facilities, but mustshare them with other user groups, fitting their pro-grams into an already busy schedule.

5. Because the playgrounds are operated by agenciesothcr than those administering either the school orcommunity programs, the latter have little .2ontrolover policies of scheduling, maintenance and designchanges. Vie playgrounds are clearly not seen bythese programs as "theirs", and this sense of power-lessness decreases the usefulness of these spaces forthe programs.

6. Finally, we could find no diff-ence in "hanging"patterns between schools with their awn open spacefacilities and those next to playgreinda.: This is,therefore, a poor rationale for placing schools nextto existing playgrounds.

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On the other hand, buildinp, a school equ_ppedentirely with its own open space facilities requiresa significant parcel of land, something not readily

available in the city. We recognize, therefore, thatthere are times when the "beet solution" for a parti-cular neighborhood might be this school/playgroundarrangement. Under these cl...-numstances, we recommend

that PFD consider the following design policy guide-lines:

Recommendations 1. In siting the school, be concerned with udnimizingthe distance between the playground and the building.In particular, the areas of the school devoted to class-room uses should be easily accessf'lle to the playground

entrance. In addition, the playgr Ind should be visi-ble from the community area of the ,_chool. The rela-

tionship between school and playground should be suchthat the playground will appear to be part of theschool's open space facilities.

2. Make sure the playground facilities will adequatelymeet the needs, as stated in this report, of both schooland community programs. This includes considerationof both equipment and spatial needs (e.g., is the eqUip-ment in adequate condition to withstand this additional

use? Are facilities regulation-size to meet communityneeds?) If the existing facility is inadequate in thisregard, the PFD must work with the agency administeringthe playground to ake the necessary changes. The 2FDmust follow-throug.i to ensure that these chal4ges areimplemented at the time that the school is ready foroccupancy. (In several cases, changes have been pro-mised, but have not, as yet, been implemented.) In ad-dition, an effort must be made to provide these facili-ties around the echo =1 itself where space permits.

3. Under any circumstances, sore spaces--sn idequaterecess space and line-up space as bare minimum--shc ld

be provided nuY* to the school itself.

4. This school:playground arrangement should not beconsidered In neighborhoods where pressure on existingo-en space Facilities Is already great.

5. Ctear lines of responsibility and accessibilitymust Ile established po-ior to the schocl's opening. Who

t.an use the playgroune spaces when? This must be worked

out between the school programs, the community programs,and tUe scheduling agency for the playground. Will

the school and community be given adequate time to use

the facility? If not, what substitute facil.:.ties shouldbe placed around the :'thool itself-

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6. The play, ound facility, community program andthe school program should ideally be administered by

a single agency. Barring this, a reduction from thopresent tri-agency situation (PFD, School Department:,

and either PRD or MDC) would at least serve to reduce

some of ne present conflict. Given the present in-efficiencies and under-staffing found in all of theseagencies, it is 4ifficult to recommend any one for

this extra load. 4e would, however, recomrend thatat least the community program and the playground be

administered by 8 single agency.