Healthy and Empowering Life in Schoolyards. The Case of Dante Alighieri School in Milan

This paper presents a participatory process aimed at improving outdoor education in a primary school in Milan. The rationale of this work was that the psycho-physical benefits for children from outdoor living could be enhanced through outdoor education. Indeed, open-air environments are fit for supporting learning experiences, bringing out different abilities and improving well-being. Moreover, during the COVID-19 pandemic, schoolyards turned out to be a resource for overcoming physical distancing. Nevertheless, the availability of flexible physical environments and proper equipment for the educational goals is a basic condition for overcoming difficulties in the extensive use of outdoor spaces in schools. The purpose of this work was to support the school in designing new outdoor educational environments with a focused vision on the pedagogical context. Thus, the process was developed by a multidisciplinary team with the involvement of the students and the teaching staff. By the initial analytical stage, site and use conditions as well as emerging needs were enlightened. These outcomes were assumed to develop a design solution both suitable for the innovation goals and attentive to environmental aspects. The proposal was selected for funding by the Municipality and implemented. Finally, a three-year post-occupancy evaluation program started in the earliest stages of use. In conclusion, by the first monitoring activities, it emerged that outdoor educational experiences increased and diversified from the past, together with students’ perception of opportunities and benefits achieved from more frequent and longer work in external environments, and their expectation of involvement in proposing further implementations.