Central Brooklyn Gets New Student-Designed Playground

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — A $1.7 million playground that was designed by students will be built in central Brooklyn.

Construction will soon begin on a new playground — replete with a running track, basketball court and gardens — behind The Winthrop Campus at 905 Winthrop St., Governor Andrew Cuomo announced this week.

The playground, which state officials hope will be finished by this fall, will be within a ten minute walk from more than 30,000 homes in East Flatbush and Brownsville.

Winthrop Campus students worked with The Trust for Public Land's Playgrounds Program to brainstorm ideas and, in the process, got to learn about designing a playground.

New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection also contributed to the design, which features a turf field designed to absorb stormwater and other green infrastructural elements.

The project is part of Governor Cuomo’s $1.4 billion initiative Vital Brooklyn, which will build eight playgrounds and revamp 22 community gardens and four recreation centers in Central Brooklyn.

The state will spend $10.6 million to transform eight schoolyards into community playgrounds, $3.1 million to refurbish the community gardens, and $1.8 million to enhance four recreation centers across Central Brooklyn.

"By utilizing green infrastructure and student input to build this playground,” Governor Cuomo said, “we are ensuring that it will meet the needs of the community it serves for generations to come."

Photo courtesy of NY State Parks/Flickr