Developing a standard for shading playgrounds
By Greg Jackson
In Tucson, Ariz., a desert city where temperatures in the summer are consistently in the triple digits, shade is not a luxury but a necessity. The city’s parks and recreation department has consistently heard from the community that residents need and desire shade over everything, but especially over playgrounds. Putting shade structures over playgrounds has been a slow process; it became a higher priority as a 2018 $225-million park bond package for capital improvements across the parks system, via General Obligation bonds, was being developed.