Improving Public Schoolyards in Porto Alegre, Brazil

The main objective of this thesis is to study the possibilities to improve Brazilian public schoolyards. The attitudes of a sample of school communities towards the meaning of schoolyards, their attitudes concerning schoolyard improvement and an investigation of the physical situation in schoolyards are the frame of the research work. The results show clearly that there is a large overall interest in improving the schoolyards and that it is seen as an instrument to improve the quality of life of the school community. It was possible to identify that the school community reacts in different ways concerning the changes. Introduction of vegetation seems to be the overall most important element of improvement and even the possibility of reducing the running around activity is recognized as a matter of importance. The possibility of outdoor pedagogical activities is often refered to as an aspect of schoolyard improvement. As a base for discussion about principles of space organization in the improvement of schoolyards, two re-planned schoolyards are presented.