Knoxville Parks and Recreation Master Plan: Let's open schoolyards to all | Opinion
As Knoxville updates its Parks and Recreation Master Plan, the city has an opportunity.
Too often, playgrounds are designed as isolated, “clean” zones separate from their “wilder” surroundings. They are made of metal and plastic without any relationship to local ecologies. As a landscape architect, I have designed playgrounds that invite joy and curiosity by integrating seasonal plant characteristics like winter seed pods, vibrant fall leaf colors, or early spring blossoms. As a parent, I have observed my toddler chasing butterflies and touching worms, experiences made possible only when plants are in the picture.
Knoxville can reimagine public school playgrounds as shared community spaces, improving walking and public transit access, and designing for both stormwater resilience and play. Together, both plants and play can become essential elements of our urban fabric.
Unlock the gates to playgrounds after school hours
I live near a school with amazing play structures and open fields, but the gates are locked after school hours. Nonprofits like Green Schoolyards America and Trust for Public Lands (TPL) work to transform schoolyards into sites where students can learn from the living world, as well as sites that welcome play after school hours and during the summer.
One of the main barriers to opening schoolyards to the public stems from fear – of vandalism, loitering, or liability. However, if schoolyards are cared for by the community and visually accessible from the street, these fears are unlikely to come to fruition. Clear signage about age-appropriate use can support safe and welcoming access.
Through “ shared-use agreements ,” TPL helps communities open their schoolyards to families within a 10-minute walk of their homes. Already, TPL has been having success in Chattanooga with three pilot schools. Knoxville can join this growing movement to cultivate play in neighborhoods that need it the most.
Even if schoolyards are accessible after hours, their equipment might be in poor condition. Structures made of plastic or metal can reach high temperatures that place children at risk of burns and injury . While these play structures might be desirable in some contexts, play value can also be enhanced through landform design and planting. As a parent, I’ve seen children delighted by simply jumping between tree stumps or balancing on fallen logs.
Baker Creek Park, with its dispersed bike ramps and log climbing structures, are perfect perches and jumping-off points for young toddlers and the average teenager. These open-ended play structures also support greater accessibility for children of varying physical and cognitive abilities.
Plants themselves can be powerful teachers by helping us to notice seasonal cycles, offering habitat to local wildlife, and generously providing cool shade.
However, even the best playgrounds cannot serve families if they are hard to reach. Play access from the downtown core has a few noteworthy public parks (Fort Kid and Morningside Park), but most parks require driving. Let’s face it, I-40 and Western Avenue make it difficult to feel safe walking across town with a toddler in tow. And with summer approaching, walking along unshaded sidewalks while the concrete pavement radiates heat seems like a recipe for meltdowns – for both toddlers and adults.
The city can incentivize bus demand through enhanced bus stop shelters, safe crosswalks, and pedestrian-friendly streets . This would make it easier for residents of all ages to access city amenities. When more people explore the city on foot, we create livelier and safer streets together.
The Parks and Recreation and Transportation Department might have to work together, but this is exactly what’s needed to help families access playful landscapes. As I drive along Central and Magnolia Avenue, I’m struck by how existing and proposed developments continue to prioritize vehicles over people. Yes, we need parking, but we also need planted areas to help absorb solar radiation and reduce the risk of heat-related deaths and stress. Public health and play go hand in hand. That’s why cities must invest in tree-shaded sidewalks, energy-efficient cooling or misting stations, and safer pedestrian streets.
Green infrastructure: Embrace water before it poses a danger
This brings me to the third opportunity: Make puddles part of the plan. Yes – small and large puddles – before we get to the scary flooding kind. Having lived along the East Coast for most of my life, flooding resilience is preeminent on the minds of policymakers and communities. My own family members evacuated during Hurricane Katrina, then later lost electricity and water for weeks during Hurricane Irene.
Hurricanes might feel like distant, singular events, but more people in Appalachia are experiencing risks from flooding, strong winds, and wildfires . Cities like Knoxville need to confront these intertwined challenges head-on. Stormwater during heavy rains can carry pet waste, sediment, oils, and other contaminants into our streets and waterways. Because creeks and rivers are dynamic systems, cities must evolve in ways that anticipate environmental and climate shifts.
Although it might seem counterintuitive, the best way to manage flooding is to embrace water before it poses a danger – and that’s exactly what green infrastructure projects, like bioswales, are designed to do. In Montreal, for example, the city has proposed sponge parks that capture stormwater runoff while also inviting people through play.
Given the number of car junk lots, underutilized parking lots, and so-called “vacant lots” around the city, these areas might be prime locations for merging stormwater capture and play. While some parents might worry about mosquitoes, well-designed green infrastructure drains water before larvae can form. The city can build on its bioswale initiatives along Central Avenue to design more inviting and interactive stormwater features across town.
I recognize my ask is ambitious – integrating living systems into the everyday fabric in ways that spark joy. I want to be able to walk or bike across town with my family and experience wonder through serendipitous encounters – sidewalks that meander around plantings, paths that are both permeable and texturally rich, or colorful benches that invite different ways of sitting and gathering. How fantastic it would be to walk through a rain garden where one might even hear frogs at dusk.
Through the upcoming Parks and Recreation Master Plan, Knoxville can transform everyday spaces, like schoolyards, streets and underutilized lots, into accessible, playful, and resilient infrastructure that benefits all residents.
Sarah Bolivar is a landscape architecture professor with the University of Tennessee at Knoxville College of Architecture and Design.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Knoxville Parks and Recreation Master Plan: Let's open schoolyards to all | Opinion
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