As population pressure grows, our homes are becoming smaller and more crowded. Current research says as our outdoor space at home shrinks, our public space play space will need to fulfill many more roles. The activities we used to do at home will need to be accommodated in urban open space, public parks and school playgrounds.
“A good park should be like a big shared garden - where people relax, eat, drink, grow flowers, feed the birds and play around."
Michael Rowland Parks policy officer, Bournemouth Borough Council.
Sandpits, digging areas, water areas - the fun stuff of childhood - is becoming increasingly important in public playgrounds. Playbuilder funding provides an opportunity for sustainable playground design. Playbuilder playground designers, like BSF playgrounds designs need to incorporate many more elements than just play equipment. Artificial streambeds can provide valuable play space and become attractive, effective drainage for the site as well.
Sustainable playgrounds design promotes sustainable communities. Picnic areas that encourage families to linger and enjoy a playground will complement healthy eating at home. The social benefits of being outdoors and living a healthy lifestyle will be felt in healthy communities.
As our climate changes, shade trees are becoming increasingly important. Edible fruit trees around playgrounds provide shade, scented blossom, add biodiversity and importantly will add to locally produced food stocks.
Childhood development requires activities such as climbing, swinging, balancing to develop gross motor and then fine motor skills. Imaginative play can happen anywhere where playground equipment is adaptable and the environment suggestive. Public playground design, like school playground design, can and should accommodate these needs.
School play grounds can be magical places when sympathetically designed. Public playgrounds, like schools, require a variety of play elements. Natural and built structures can combine for low maintenance, beneficial risk, high impact play.
Increasingly, the non-school environment is perceived as unsafe for children’s
play. Schools are one of the few places left where parents still feel it safe to send
their children. This offers schools the opportunity to be part of the process of
reawakening both parents and children to the possibilities and benefits of play.
Control of their own play activity is a crucial factor in enriching children’s
experience and enhancing their development. Play provision should be based
on the principle of empowering the child and increasing their choices. This
should include children’s participation in devising, building and rebuilding their
physical play environment. Sustainable playground designers must heed this need for flexibility and adaptability in natural playground designs.
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- attention to wildlife corridors
- habitat creation or habitat enhancement e.g. through placement of bat boxes, bird nest boxes, wildflower meadows, leaving long grass in certain areas
- access - will the playground withstand the pressures of constant use?
- careful project management of the installation to ensure natural elements are retained
- to be self sufficient in water supply
Planning your play ground or community garden?
- Engage a suitable playground designer to canvas the ideas and opinions of all user groups. For example, a natural playground design brief must consider the needs of teenagers, dog walkers and bird watchers as well as the young children and parents. This stage forms your design brief and must be fully and carefully considered to ensure the success of the project. Planning objections, vandalism and antisocial behaviour are seldom a problem if all user's needs are taken into consideration from the outset.
- Engage a suitable designer (the same sustainable playground designer is ideal) to draw all the ideas together in an overall plan. This will detail the concept, scaled drawings of the site including services, and detail the materials to be used.
- Funding can come from your local authority or any number of community and environmental grants (Note: grants will generally pay for the designer's fees as a direct cost of the project )
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CABE Public Space 2008 Scholarship winners talk about what they learnt about sustainable playground design
Michael Rowland
Parks policy officer, Bournemouth Borough Council.
Michael traveled across Europe to France, Germany, Norway, Denmark and Sweden before heading to Canada and the USA, to learn how to deliver high quality, vibrant playground designs for parks within a town centre. He explored different types of spaces including waterfront parks in Denmark (Copenhagen) and Sweden (Malmo) and 'emerald necklace' park systems in Seattle (USA) and Vancouver (Canada) as well as studying the idea of biodiversity and environmental sustainability.
“Almost all the parks I visited incorporated facilities, such as BBQs, to encourage people to gather in them, rather than worrying that it might lead to anti-social behaviour, whilst the towns themselves had excellent cycling infrastructure to allowing easy access to their open spaces. I feel confident now that I can develop a vision for Bournemouth’s parks taking the best of design and innovation to produce something beautiful, engaging and exciting for the town’s residents.”
Paul Quinn
Regeneration manager, West Northamptonshire Development Corporation.
Paul travelled to Germany, Sweden and Denmark as well as visiting projects around the UK to study best practice in town and city centre public realm and the public spaces in and around residential developments.
“Visiting these places has helped me understand what the best looks like, how it is delivered and how it will perform over time. And very often it’s the more stripped down, inexpensive schemes which work best - we have much to learn from our colleagues in the U.K. and northern Europe about how to avoid overcomplicating schemes and creating additional costs through the over specification of materials, street furniture and lighting. The scholarship has given me an enormous amount to work with in terms of experience, ideas and vision and has inspired me to deliver the best possible open spaces for the communities I’m working in.”
Sam Parry
Parks officer, Bristol City Council (previously working for Oxford City Council).
Sam travelled across Europe to Germany, Holland, Denmark and Sweden to gain a better understanding of how parks and open spaces can be designed with young people in mind.
"Young people are often ignored when parks are created, with the belief that a small, fenced off play area will be sufficient to keep them amused and a fear that encouraging activities such as skating and cycling will attract anti-social behaviour. In contrast, many of the European cities I visited put the needs of young people at the centre of public spaces. In Stockholm children are allowed to have barbecues and build their own play huts and in Holland homezones allow children to play in almost every street. I aim to use these examples to inspire my own work and to show other parks professionals how these processes and ideas can be developed."
To see projects we have worked on and get ideas for future playground designs, please click here.
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