Understanding the Effects of Climate Information on Crowdsourced Schoolyard Design: A Study of Design Reasoning and Choices

Crowdsourcing has emerged as a valuable mechanism for capturing public preferences and attitudes, offering crucial insights for planning and design practice. While this approach has been extensively implemented at the urban scale, its effective application at the site scale urban greening remains largely unexplored. As communities increasingly confront climate change impacts, there is a strong need to adapt existing community spaces for enhanced resilience. This study examines how exposure to climate change information influences design decisions and reasoning in crowdsourced schoolyard design through Land.info, a Unity-based decision support system. Using a between-subjects experimental design, we provided one group of participants (n=97) with detailed climate impact projections for a southeast Michigan school, while the control group (n=90) received only basic site information before engaging in the design process. Our analysis reveals that while tool engagement patterns were comparable between groups, access to climate information produced distinct differences in design reasoning and object selection. Participants exposed to climate-related information prioritized environmental considerations and user comfort, incorporating higher proportions of vegetation and play equipment in their designs. Conversely, participants without climate information emphasized aesthetic quality and functional organization, favoring furniture and paving elements, characteristic of traditional schoolyard layouts. Notably, both groups maintained consistent inclusion of vegetation and demonstrated strong consideration for safety and visual appeal, suggesting that climate information integration enhances design thinking while preserving fundamental site planning priorities. These insights provide valuable direction for developing climate-informed crowdsourcing tools and facilitating meaningful public engagement in designing resilient community spaces.