Climate-resilient cities can start with schoolyards

Cities across Europe are getting hotter, and schools are among the places where heat stress is rising fastest. Many urban schoolyards are still dominated by concrete and asphalt, offering little shade or cooling. In a new Nature Climate Change paper, UT researcher Diana Reckien and colleagues show that greening school environments can become a starting point for climate-resilient cities.

Schools are central places in children’s daily lives and deeply embedded in neighbourhoods. Yet heat, air pollution and a lack of green space increasingly affect children’s health and learning. More than 90 per cent of primary schools have little green or blue infrastructure nearby. Children growing up in disadvantaged areas are most exposed to heat. But they are least likely to benefit from cooling green spaces.

Schools as leverage points for climate adaptation

The paper shows that schools are not merely vulnerable places that need protection. They can be powerful leverage points for urban climate adaptation. When redesigned as nature-based climate shelters with vegetation, shade, water and permeable surfaces, schoolyards can cool their surroundings during heatwaves and strengthen urban resilience.

“Schools are everywhere in our cities,” says Diana Reckien. “That makes them incredibly strategic places to start climate adaptation. You don’t have to build something new. You transform what is already there.”

Greener schoolyards reduce climate inequality

The authors also show that climate impacts do not affect all children equally. Pupils in socio-economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods are more exposed to heat and air pollution, and have less access to green space. Greener school environments can make a real difference here.

“Greening schoolyards is not a nice extra,” Reckien says. “It is a way to reduce climate-related health inequalities among children.” Several studies show fewer behavioural problems and improved well-being at green school environment. Especially in these vulnerable groups.

From schoolyard to neighbourhood hub

According to the study, the biggest gains occur when schoolyard transformations are co-designed with children, teachers, parents and local communities, and when schoolyards are opened up beyond school hours. In those cases, they become hubs for biodiversity, outdoor learning and social cohesion.

Climate adaptation can feel abstract and overwhelming, especially at the scale of cities. Schools, the authors argue, offer a tangible and immediate place to act. They bring together education, care, community and long-term impact in one location. “If cities want to prepare for heat, inequality and biodiversity loss at the same time,” says Reckien, “schools may be one of the smartest places to begin.”

More information

The Comment “Greening schools for climate-resilient, inclusive and liveable cities” was published in Nature Climate Change. Diana Reckien is an associate professor at the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, and was involved in the international COOLSCHOOLS project which collaborated with, among others, the municipalities of four large European cities, Rotterdam, Brussels, Paris, and Barcelona, on green and blue schoolyard initiatives.  

The COOLSCHOOLS project was led by Associate Professor Isabel Ruiz-Mallén (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya) and Prof. Francesc Baró (Vrije Universiteit Brussels). Diana worked with a team of Dutch researchers on this project, among them Prof. Karin Pfeffer, Associate Professor Funda Atun, and PhD candidate Paula Presser

DOI: 10.1038/s41558-025-02519-3