School Outdoor Spaces as Urban Public Space Activators. Three Case Studies in Croatia

In this paper, the authors provide an overview of schools’ outdoor spaces. A brief analysis of their historical development is followed by a study of contemporary multifunctional use of school grounds primarily based on an interaction between the community and public urban spaces. Schools’ outdoor spaces have lately been comprehensively researched in light of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on teaching as well as the long-standing awareness of the importance of eco-friendly living. Architectural elements of schoolyards of the early twentieth-century Open Air Schools, created to improve children’s health, and the ensuing process of evolving school outdoor spaces beyond education, are detailed with a vision of connecting schools with the surrounding built environment. Through a comparative analysis of selected case studies in Croatia, the paper presents three examples of interaction between primary school outdoor spaces and urban public spaces. This interaction is a viable future trend in school design and urban planning in view of the reduction of accessible community areas with the aim of bring education back to its origins in nature and urban public spaces.