The SPARK School Park Program, created in 1983 as a way to increase park space, works in Houston and Harris County to develop public school grounds into neighborhood parks. Almost 150 SPARK Parks have been created and are currently in use. The Trust for Public Land, with funding from the Houston Endowment, has worked through the "SPARK School Park 2014 Evaluation" project to assess the impact of SPARK Parks and develop best practices for schoolyard joint use projects.

In order to do this, The Trust for Public Land worked with field staff to observe selected schoolyards (which involved the counting of park users and assessment of park conditions) and conduct brief interviews with park users. Recognizing the important role that close-to-home urban parks have in offering opportunities for recreation, physical activity and relaxation, The Trust for Public Land also developed this mapping and GIS analysis portal to help assess the potential impact of the existing parks and support and inform the creation of new schoolyard parks.

SPARK School Park 2014 Evaluations - GIS Reference


SPARK School Park 2014 Evaluation - Interactive Map Viewer:

An interactive map viewer that allows you to view and / or investigate the results and additional data from the SPARK School Park Evaluation.


Analysis Results and Maps