NAOMI ELLENSON THIRSTY PLAYGROUNDS FOR CLEANER WATER
At Stephen B. Halsey Junior High School in Queens, New York, students watch as Trust for Public Land staffer Maddalena Polletta demonstrates how rain can overwhelm the city’s sewer system and pollute Flushing Bay. Polletta is using a “sewer-in-a-suitcase” demonstration kit developed by the nonprofit Center for Urban Pedagogy to help students envision the environmental effects of a new playground for their school—one of 180 school playgrounds TPL has helped students plan in New York City in partnership with the city and school district.
In planning playgrounds, students historically have focused on recreational, learning, and relaxation features: ball courts, running tracks, amphitheaters, and the like. But recently they have been learning about eco-features and
OZIER MUHAMMAD/THE NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX
sion of ten asphalt lots at schools and recreation centers into parks and playgrounds. A primary goal, of course, is to provide desperately needed recreation space. (An estimated 200,000 Philadelphia residents lack easy access to a park or playground.) But the city’s water department is a partner in the program, and playground elements are being planned to absorb rain and reduce runoff. If this pilot program is successful, the long-term vision is for TPL to help transform as many as 50 sites into green, water-absorbing play- grounds and parks over the next ten years. At Halsey School in Queens, students follow up the sewer-in-a-suitcase demon- stration by reexamining their playground plan with an eye toward water absorp- tion. They find that their turf playing field, meditation garden, vegetable garden, and grass will absorb an estimated 600,000
specifically playground elements that can retain rainwater that would otherwise be washed into streets and sewers, and from there into local water bodies. The playground at Halsey is one of ten new eco-playgrounds in Brook- lyn, Queens, and the Bronx for which TPL will oversee design by students, planning, and construction. Green playgrounds are also part of Philadelphia’s plans to prevent water pollution. Last spring, as part of its Green 2015 Action Plan, the city asked TPL to oversee the conver-
72 LAND&PEOPLE Fall/Winter 2012
gallons of rainwater each year. It’s a start, but there is more to do. And they go back to work planning the thirstiest play- ground they can design.
Lead support for TPL green playgrounds work comes from the William Penn Foundation in Philadelphia and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection. For more information on eco-playgrounds and other Parks for People efforts in these states, go to
tpl.org/newyork and
tpl.org/pennsylvania.
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