Space for Play: Designing Child Friendly Neighborhoods
Exploring children’s needs for play and independent mobility in the design of cities
Play prepares children for an increasingly complex world, encouraging them to test and innovate. At August’s GL[E]AM session Hayball’s Natalia Krysiak shared her Churchill Fellowship research into designing child friendly neighbourhoods and more playful environments. The discussion revolved around how children develop skills that are vital to their health and well-being through play, and how the design of environments can help support this. An important outcome of the research is the proposal that neighbourhoods are co-created with children through a genuine engagement process. Case studies explore progressive co-created neighbourboods, and the processes behind the design of these, in Singapore, the Netherlands, the UK, and Canada.
“ …it is vital that we remember the voice of children in this debate, as their perceptions about the environment around them are incredibly valuable and often far more insightful, sensitive and imaginative to that of any adult.” – Natalia Krysiak
Thank you to our very own Natalia Krysiak (Hayball Associate and founder of Cities for Play) for sharing research from her Churchill Fellowship.
Recommendations:
Cities for Play, by Natalia Krysiak
The Playability of Playgrounds: What Do the Children Think?, article by Fiona Young and Natalia Krysiak, Learning Environments Australasia, July 2019
Aldo van Eyck’s Playgrounds: Aesthetics, Affordances, and Creativity, paper by Rob Withagen and Simone Caljouw, 2017
Gap-crossing Behavior in a Standardized and a Nonstandardized Jumping Stone Configuration, paper by Karlijn Sporrel, Simone Caljouw, and Rob Withagen, 2017
If you are interested in this session, you can request a full recording by filling out the submission form below.