Making Green Heritage Schools Work: Nature-Based Solutions and Historical Preservation When Infrastructure Fails

Juan Miguel Kanai (), Verónica Fabio, Marta Mirás and Lucas Gastiarena
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Juan Miguel Kanai: Department of Geography, Faculty of Social Sciences, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK
Verónica Fabio: Faculty of Architecture, Design and Urbanism, University of Buenos Aires, Intendente Güiraldes 2160, Buenos Aires C1428EGA, Argentina
Marta Mirás: Faculty of Architecture, Design and Urbanism, University of Buenos Aires, Intendente Güiraldes 2160, Buenos Aires C1428EGA, Argentina
Lucas Gastiarena: Department of Geography, Faculty of Social Sciences, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 16, 1-15

Abstract: Schools provide strategic resources for urban sustainability. An international, interdisciplinary research agenda documents the social and ecological benefits of living in green or re-naturalised schoolyards, a hybrid format of urban nature-based solutions. Focussing on low- and middle-income countries, where implementation lags, this paper addresses the challenges of replicating and scaling successful pilots. A better understanding of capacity building challenges is crucial, considering that schools face several concurrent challenges, including historical preservation of heritage buildings, universal access provision, and infrastructure failure in ageing facilities. This study presents primary evidence from action research to build and promote living schoolyards in Argentina, structured as a comparative case study of attempts to co-develop yards with two schools in Buenos Aires. One was an older school with historical preservation status; the other was a more modern, larger school with relative heritage value. Findings show contrastive outcomes. Our programme advanced only in the former. Historical preservation regulations posed relatively manageable contingencies, whereas insurmountable obstacles came from poor general maintenance and governmental risk aversion. Concluding remarks make suggestions on how to co-design projects with communities to synergise heritage schemes, creatively fix infrastructure deficits, and stir a mindset shift for decision-makers to understand and value urban re-greening.

Keywords: living schoolyards; green fences; landscape architecture; sustainability planning; nature-based education; infrastructure failure; urban heritage; Latin America; urban ecology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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