Chittick Elementary School Playground

In fall of 2018, Boston became the second major U.S. city to meet our 10-minute walk goal —which aims to put a great park or open space within a 10-minute walk of everyone in America. Chittick Elementary School in Mattapan sits in the middle of Boston’s largest park-access gap. Right now, the playground hosts two well-worn play-sets sitting adjacent to a vacant parcel of land. The neighborhood is allowed limited use of the playground after school hours. The Trust for Public Land is working with the city to transform this land into a new public park.

We worked with students from Chittick Elementary to envision a new green schoolyard. With help from a landscape architect, students learned about measurement, observation, and design as they worked together to create a park that meets the needs of the whole community. The Boston Parks and Recreation Department will now finalize the design and build the park. Outside of school hours, the schoolyard will be available for use by the public creating a vibrant community park in a neighborhood missing such vital green space.