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Designs on Play

Messages from Designs on Play to the Urban Summit 2002

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The 6th PLAYLINK/Portsmouth City Council conference - Designs on Play - explored how spaces created for children and young people could be more imaginative and exciting and how shared public spaces could be more responsive to children's needs and wishes. Delegates wished to send the following messages to the Urban summit.

ON DESIGN

Designs for play and informal recreation spaces should reflect the individual spirit of their locality and stimulate all the senses.
Children need and want to play in the natural world; design quality embraces much more than play equipment.
Designers, artists and ecologists should be involved in the initial brief for a playground project.

ON CONSULTATION

Children and young people, including the disabled and those from excluded groups, should participate throughout development of the project
Meaningful consultation is a creative process based on mutual respect and dialogue. It takes time, skills and a variety of means including observation of what children and young people choose to do on their own

ON SHARED PUBLIC SPACE

Children and young people have a legitimate claim on public space for their play and free time
It is the local authority's role to ensure that local communities are enabled to negotiate the shared use of public spaces
Good design helps to solve problems in sharing public space to include play
Lack of public understanding of children's needs and wishes is a block on innovative design and must be addressed by Government

We strongly urge participants in the Urban Summit to ensure that public space is designed to include children and young people's play and free time activity.

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