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

Designs on Play

Making Connections

By Sandra Melville

A forthcoming play conference, Designs on Play, will discuss the difficult issue of designing play areas to suit both the local community and, most importantly, the needs and aspirations of children. Sandra Melville discusses some of the issues.

The places where children play have meaning for them and convey messages about the priority we accord to their needs and wishes. These places, and the richness of experience available to children through their play, are significant contributors to their quality of life and enjoyment of childhood, and so to their chances of development into confident and creative adults.

Both research and common experience confirm that, compared to twenty years ago, children today have markedly reduced opportunities to play in places they can choose for themselves. Too many have very restricted experience of being outdoors at all. The community therefore has a heavy responsibility to ensure firstly that, as far as possible, public outdoor space which children can access is welcoming to their play and, secondly, that specifically designated play spaces are rich in play possibilities. It is an open secret that we largely fall on both counts. The question is, what should we do about it?

The first step is to acknowledge the problem. It is clear from consultation both with children and with community groups that better play opportunities are high on their wish lists for local development and this deserves positive responses. The second step is to take time to think. An immediate rush to equipment catalogues, however stunning the quality of the equipment, will not lead to satisfying, long-run solutions though it may generate much short-term excitement and political support.

Observation of what children do whn left to their own devices, and meaningful consultation with them, produce consistent messages. They want to feel free: "Play is what I do when everyone else has stopped telling me what to do." They want to feel secure but they do not want to be under constant surveillance. They seek out risk-taking and excitement but want the risks to be controlled. They enjoy being outdoors. The weather, the elements, direct experience of nature are important to them. They want a clean, attractive environment which is not the same as saying that they don't want to be able to make a mess. They want to be trusted to take control over resources and space to do things in their own way. They want to be with their friends and not to be hassled for doing nothing in particular.

These are entirely reasonable aspirations, no more than what adults want for themselves. We should aim to meet them fully for our children. It is nevertheless a tall order, not least because harmonious sharing of public space may require a sophisticated level of social negotiation between the competing needs of different groups. Facilitating that negotiation is a task that rightly falls to the local authority in the first instance.

It also requires a high degree of design skill to create a physical environment that can respond to the mix of children's aspirations. Within supervised play settings this skill may reside in experienced playworkers. However, it is neither fair nor productive to expect people with a background in horticulture or greenspace management to be able to do the job unaided in parks and public open spaces.

We have been generally slow to recognize the need to involve landscape designers and community artists early on in the process of resolving what are essentially design problems. The result has been a national 'estate' of play provision with too much uniformity and too little inspiration and creativity. The tendency to uniformity has been reinforced by a nervous approach to standards and safety which stifles innovation. What is required is a confident design approach, founded on robust policy for children's play in the light of their needs and wishes together with a clear understanding of how to manage the balance between risks and benefits in play settings.

This is by no means a plea to replace play equipment with trees and bushes, mounds and streams. It is a call to integrate play equipment with these other features, remembering also that flights of steps, low walls, amphitheatres and bandstands, as well as circle, maze and other surface markings, are all rich in play potential though they may not be mentioned particularly in consultation exercises. Every play space should be unique in its character and relationship to the traditions and heritage of its neighbourhood. It should have specific meaning and value to the children who use it, enriching their experience beyond their immediate satisfaction in play to a deeper sense of connection to their place.

Sandra Melville is director of PLAYLINK.

Some examples of effective play design will be presented at the PLAYLINK/Portsmouth City Council conference Designs on Play to be held 1 October 2002 at the Portsmouth Guildhall. Further information is available from Leigh-Beth Campbell at Portsmouth on leisure@portsmouthcc.gov.uk or on 02392-841 400.

Designs on Play

Making Connections

Further reading