From parking lot to schoolyard: Transforming high school grounds for health

Replacing paved school areas with an attractive and functional schoolyard may help promote physical activity and well-being among school students.

Background: Schoolyards are important arenas to provide young people space to engage in physical activities, socialize, and explore their interests outside the classroom. Arendal high school in the southern part of Norway gathers 900 students aged 16-19 years and 130 employees. The school consists of two locations, Tyholmen and Barbu, which are on separate hills on each side of the city center. The school yard at Tyholmen has for some years been used as a parking area by employees and students. In practice, the students at Tyholmen have no outdoor area for recreation. The Arendal County Council recently decided that the schoolyard at Tyholmen will be transformed during the summer of 2025 to become a fit-for-purpose schoolyard. Cars will not be allowed in the schoolyard whereas a small area will be kept for scooter parking. Alternative transportation methods such as bicycle, will be encouraged. This research investigates a) factors promoting or hindering schoolyard transformation, b) the impact of removing parking opportunities on the daily life of employees and students, and c) the impact of schoolyard transformation on physical activity, social cohesion, learning and wellbeing. This work is conducted as part of the EU-funded Joint Action JAPreventNCD.
Methods: Mixed methods are used to collect the data. During the fall of 2024, information meetings and participatory processes involving students, were organized. In April 2025, an anonymous digital questionnaire jointly developed by students and researchers, will be administered to all students to collect information on travel habits and activities during recess. In parallel, a similar questionnaire as well as individual interviews targeting the employees will be organized to learn about their perceptions of the transformation and its potential impact on their work life. After schoolyard transformation, walking interviews with students will be organized in the spring of 2026, and the digital questionnaires will be repeated to capture change of attitude and behavior. Individual interviews with employees and focus groups with student council members, will also be conducted. The data collection will end in the summer of 2026.
Results: Preliminary results are expected to be available in October 2025.
Expected outcomes: Results from this research will be used to produce a report on barriers and enablers to removing workplace parking, and redeveloping playgrounds/schoolyards, including recommendations targeted to other cities/settings. The knowledge from the project will be communicated to relevant policymakers and stakeholders in Norway and Europe and networks like the WHO Healthy City Network.