PRELAND: A Preliminary Environmental Audit Framework for Preschool Outdoor Environments and Its Pilot Field Application

Preschool outdoor environments form part of child-inclusive educational and urban green infrastructure, yet audit approaches often separate play, ecology, accessibility, safety, and educational provision. This study formulated the Preschool Landscape Assessment Framework (PRELAND) as a preliminary environmental audit and examined its pilot field applicability, scoring feasibility, and within-team observer agreement. PRELAND’s sustainability orientation is defined narrowly as the coordinated observation of selected inclusive, nature-rich, and multifunctional spatial and functional provisions; it is not a comprehensive measure of sustainability performance. The framework includes 27 indicators in six dimensions, rated on an ordered 0–2 scale. Throughout June 2026, after ethics approval and while schools were in regular session, two researchers independently assessed eight purposively selected public preschool gardens in Düzce, Türkiye. Across 216 paired item ratings, exact agreement was 98.1%, and linear weighted Cohen’s κ was 0.980 (site-cluster bootstrap 95% CI 0.951–1.000). Mean observer-specific totals ranged from 21 to 43 of 54. Green Infrastructure had the highest across-site percentage achievement (72.5%), followed by Play Opportunities (63.1%); Educational Activity Areas had the lowest (14.6%). An equal-dimension sensitivity composite preserved the raw-total site ranking. The application generated differentiated profiles and structured planning questions concerning observed environmental provision. It did not assess sustainability performance, Sustainable Development Goal attainment, child outcomes, validity, or generalisable reliability. External content review, expanded observer studies, repeated seasonal and operational-condition assessments, and cross-context validation are required before decision use.