Policy & Consultations | Playwork in Practice | Adventure Play | Play & Design

Designs on Play

PLAYLINK/Portsmouth City Council

Play Conference 2002, 1 October

Why are so many children's playgrounds unimaginative and indistinguishable? Why do so few reflect the spirit of their locality or children's desire for excitement and mystery? What could be the role of artists and designers in creating individual environments children will be drawn to for their play?

Designs on Play initiated an exchange of working ideas between designers and planners and those with responsibility for, or interest in, play services and playgrounds.

The main focus of the day was on case studies presenting successful examples of creative design for supervised and unsupervised playgrounds and for play in public spaces.

The conference was chaired by Ken Worpole, one of Britain's most influential writers on urban and social policy. Worpole is a member of the Government's Urban Green Spaces Task Force and has a background in adventure playgrounds.

Keynote speakers included Kim Wilkie, landscape architect, urban designer and environmental planner and Robin Sutcliffe, chair of the Play Safety Forum.

Portsmouth Leisure Services "facilitating debate in partnership with PLAYLINK".

Resources

Making Connections, by Sandra Melville, reproduced from Lesiure Manager magazine, September 2002.
Come out to play, Today is National Playday. Only one problem: there are very few places where children can run about and have fun. Ken Worpole on the lessons we can learn from the Dutch. From The Guardian, 7 August 7, 2002.
The way forward, The story garden, by Sophie Petit-Zeman, The Guardian, 7 August 2002.
Design for Children, Exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art in Amsterdam

Useful Links

Ken Worpole, writer, policy adviser, public lecturer.
Sutcliffe Play, innovators in the field of children's play.
Kim Wilkie Associates, landscape architects, urban designers and environmental planners.
Helle Nebelong, Danish landscape architect. Helle's website includes information about projects including the Naturlegepladsen i Valbyparken (Nature playground in Valbyparken) and Murergarden pa Norrebro i Kobenhavn.
The Government's Urban Greenspaces Task Force, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
Child in the City, Bruges Conference, 22, 23, 24 September 2002.

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