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Mechanically constituted playgroundsBy Bernard Spiegal So far as we are aware, no negligence claims have been lodged against local authorities for inducing boredom in children, or for limiting the scope of their imaginations, or for unreasonably denying them access to acceptable levels of risk in their play provision. Given what we should reasonably know about children and play, what they need, want and enjoy, this should strike us as surprising. Bewilderment is also in order. Bewilderment at our - that is, adults - seeming forgetfulness about where and how we played as children, and what those experiences might be trying to tell us when we come to provide for children's play. From this perspective, playgrounds dominated by identikit equipment can be understood as monuments to collective acts of forgetfulness. It is of course possible that children have changed since we were young. Perhaps they don't know how to play anymore. They've lost the knack. It would be odd if we genuinely believed this to be true. The reason we are not entitled to delude ourselves that children have so significantly changed in their inherent aptitudes, capacities, predilections and behaviours is the first hand knowledge we have, or should have, from simply observing children when left to their own devices. When left to their own devices, children will do more or less what you did when you were a child; that is, they will use the environments they find themselves in to best advantage. They will, for example, build dens and hideaway places, be active and passive, social and solitary, and touch, smell and delight in the natural environment. And take risks that, through a combination of intuition and experience, they have judged to be worth their while. Too many playgrounds give the impression of being constructed for a different sort of child. Observation and memory are the royal highways to understanding what children need, want and enjoy in their play. But understanding alone will not deliver to children their entitlement to quality play opportunities. Something else is required: the courage and commitment radically to transform the way we think about, design, plant and equip the places where children play. This will require a decisive break with past practice whereby, too often, nowhere-in-particular play areas are constructed after a process more or less limited to communing with one or more play equipment catalogues. Not unusually, communities, parents, children and young people will be invited to participate in this blinkered exercise in the name of 'consultation', and to induce a sense of 'ownership' of the one or more woeful pieces of ironmongery that will eventually perch atop an impact absorbent surface. Yes, it's true that children play in these areas and for periods they may even enjoy themselves. But use and enjoyment do not alone demonstrate the quality of play provision any more than children eating and enjoying bread crumb coated, deep fried, mechanically reconstituted turkey shapes can stand as indicators of food quality. Play equipment has its place, but its place and prevalence can only be determined within a wider context; a wider context informed by values and understandings connected to a lively sense of what one is trying to achieve for children. Where equipment is used, it should form an integral part of a wider offer to children that includes, in particular, access to the natural environment. Creating wonderful places for play will require acknowledging: the uniqueness of individual areas - creating designs that express a 'sense of place'; the range of experiences children should have access to in their play spaces; that beautiful places for play are best left 'unfinished', responsive to children changing interests and whims; the need to use a variety of quality materials; children's need and right to take acceptable levels of risk. There is much good work being done in this country and in Europe. This is sufficient to demonstrate that change for the better is both possible and practical. But more needs to be done in key areas. These include securing changes in: the content and implementation of planning gain agreements; procurement processes; in the understandings, attitudes and objectives of parks, open space and leisure departments; in the design briefs for Children Centres, schools and Extended Schools, to name but a few. Bernard Spiegal PLAYLINK not for profit © PLAYLINKnotforprofit2005 Bernard Spiegal is Principal of PLAYLINK. Examples of play environments, and more about the support available to develop wonderful places for play can be found on http://www.playlink.org.uk and http://www.freeplaynetwork.org.uk. The new publication, Places for Play by Sandra Melville, addresses in words and pictures the question, 'What makes an outdoor space a good place to play?' This article was originally published in Leisure Manager magazine. |
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