Bamboo playspace wins award

Four people are crouched down working on the bamboo playspace tructure.
Image from the Design, Build, Play report.

Dhaka, Bangladesh has an award-winning bamboo playspace. The collaboratively designed playspace is a venue for theatre and dance and a local gathering place for families. Bamboo artisans, children from the Peace Home and architecture students worked together throughout the project. The bamboo playspace brings together vulnerable children with local neighbourhood children. The International Union of Architects judged this project to be worthy of the Friendly and Inclusive Spaces Award.

An aerial view of the playspace showing how the bamboo was constructed.
Aerial view of the award-winning Bamboo Playspace

The inclusive playspace was designed and built by bamboo artisans, children from the Peace Home and architecture students. It is part of  Paraa’s Critical Architecture, Design and Sustainable Environments course. A fundamental part of the course is for students to work with a community to resolve spatial challenges.  Hands-on projects such as this are challenging established educational practice at university level. 

The playspace has a central open space where children can play or organise festivals and performances. The structure can accommodate around 200 people at three different levels. Specific features were designed to include therapeutic exercises for children. There are play features for younger children where adults can supervise. Older children gravitate to the more adventurous zone. The semi-shaded decks offer flexible space for workshops and places to hang out. 

There is a magazine article that has more information and a series of pictures.  The action research and community engagement report provides the methodology and more pictures. The Paraabd Instagram account has many photos and videos too. 

Paraa is a design and architecture studio in Bangladesh that takes a multi-disciplinary approach to design. Their vision is to create a commercially-sustainable architectural, design and planning practice.

 

Inclusive Playspaces: An evaluation tool

A small boy sits in a basket swing. He is smiling as a woman is pushing the swing.Inclusive playspaces for all the family often means moving away from a “design by the catalogue” approach.  Some manufacturers of ready-made “plonk-down” equipment are recognising this change. But an inclusive playspace is much more than the equipment. So, how will you know if the design is inclusive and accessible? An evaluation tool for inclusive playspace designers is therefore welcome.

From the UK comes the Play Parks Evaluation Tool. Accessibility is often evaluated independently from the play experience. The tool is designed to overcome this as It integrates inclusive design and the value of play. The following factors underpin the tool:

Accessibility: non-play aspects (parking, pathways, seating); through the objective evaluation of provision.
Usability: play equipment design supporting use by individuals with differing levels of ability, encompassing Universal Design and focusing on an individual’s subjective evaluation of their experience.
Inclusion: environments that can be used by as many individuals as possible on as many occasions as possible.
Play types: physical, imaginative, or cognitive play, plus sensations including speed, rotation, and tactile experiences.

The article about the development of the tool covers the issues in depth. The tool consists of an infographic depicting a wheel with 16 spokes, one for each aspect of play. The aim is to fill in as many spokes as possible on any given site. It’s about moving from a position of viewing ‘general’ and ‘special’ features separately to a holistic approach. The tool is useful for developing new and existing sites. 

Graphic for the Playspace Evaluation Tool.
The Evaluation Tool wheel

The title of the article is, Developing an integrated approach to the evaluation of outdoor play settings: rethinking the position of play value. 

Abstract

Local play parks are key spaces within children’s geographies providing opportunities for physical activity, socialisation and a connection with their local community. The design of these key neighbourhood facilities influences their use; extending beyond accessibility and installation of equipment when seeking to create a location with usability for all.

This paper reports on the development of an evaluation tool, which supports the review and development processes linked to play parks. The Play Park Evaluation Tool (PPET), which is evidence-based in content and developed with a multi-disciplinary approach drawing on disciplines from the Built Environment and Health Sciences (occupational therapy), considers key areas contributing to the accessibility and usability of play parks.

Aspects evaluated include non-play features such as surface finish and seating, recognising the relevance of these in creating accessible, usable spaces for play. This alongside assessment of installed play equipment to evaluate the breadth of play options available and how these meet the needs of children and young people with varying abilities or needs.

The paper describes PPET’s creation, the revision process undertaken, and its subsequent use across three stages of a play park’s development. Key to achieving facilities with high play value is the provision of a varied play experience. To support this the evaluation of play types offered is integrated within the tool.

This in-depth appraisal is supported by the creation of an infographic illustrating the resulting data and provides a method by which this information is presented in an accessible form. This visual representation contributing to the decision-making process undertaken by those responsible for the provision of play parks.

Quick tour of inclusive, creative and adventure play:

Two small children crouch down in a sandy area with large stones. Good to see creative and inclusive play.
Slide from Jeavons Landscape Architects presentation.

It’s not often a conference presentation slide deck becomes a mini training course. But Mary and Sally Jeavons achieved this at the inaugural Australian Universal Design Conference. The slides show lots of different examples of inclusive, creative and adventure play. It’s a quick tour of inclusive, creative and adventure play.

The title of the Jeavons presentation is, Designing Play Spaces for Inclusion: Devilish details that make a difference. This presentation focused on the design of parks and play spaces and their potential for intergenerational play, social interaction and community building. And, of course, for interaction with the natural world. As Mary Jeavons said, play equipment in a neatly fenced rubber space, cannot meet all of the play needs of today’s children and families. A very useful presentation using images that tell the story.

Two children, one in a wheelchair, enter a cubby area.
Photo courtesy Jeavons Landscape Architecture.

It is not easy to successfully include “un-designed” elements into playspaces. Plantings, sand, and large river pebbles need maintenance and resistance to local residents complaining about “mess”. There are also budget considerations. With increased urban density the need for adventure play becomes more important. All children have a right to use parks and open spaces. Time to move beyond the “plonk down” catalogue swing set and slide. 

See other posts with more practical information and research on adventure play: 

Playspaces: The adventure evolution

Adventure play and children with disability

Canadian City Parks and Inclusion

A path wanders through a dense woodland. It has a fence of heavy timbers on each side of the path. Canadian city parks go for inclusion.The amount of space required for physical distancing due to COVID-19 highlights how valuable our public space is. An important point raised in the 2020 Canadian City Parks Report. Parks form a critical backbone of community infrastructure particularly in times of stress. However, not everyone feels welcome and respected in public space. There are systemic inequities related to race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and ability. So more parks and open streets aren’t the answer to these issues, particularly at this time of a pandemic. 

The City Park Report can also be read as a guide with sections with five themes:

Each theme has an Overview, Data, and Stories. The report is based on 25,000 responses to the Park People‘s 2019 report.  

The Inclusion section begins with the issue of homelessness and displacement. Not something usually thought of under this heading. However, they have some interesting responses to this issue from a parks perspective. People with disability get a separate sub-section. And, of course, as usual, this topic appears at the end of the report. 

Nicely presented, but fiddly to access, back and forth for the different sections. The Executive Summary provides an overview of the report.

A separate study, Participatory planning for the future of accessible nature, extends the thinking in this report. Available from Tanfonline or request a copy of the paper on ResearchGate

 

Adventure play and children with disability

A play area showing brightly coloured poles and a boardwalk leading to equipment.Play is children’s “work”. They set themselves challenges and most like to take risks. It’s how they grow and develop. But not all children get the opportunity to participate in adventure play. Disadvantaged backgrounds and disability are just two reasons. Underestimating what a child can do can also be a barrier to inclusion. Good to see some work on adventure play and children with disability.

We are moving from a culture of controlled play to one of letting children explore through free play. Parents of children with disability are seeking more opportunities for their child to participate in these play experiences. However, most children with disability will need adult guidance or help, so care-givers need to be considered too. 

A research paper from Italy promotes greater participation in risky play. The secret is to begin by involving children with disability in the design process. The paper covers the literature on play, benefits to health and development, and the right of all children to participate. Making the play space “accessible” is necessary but insufficient to make it inclusive.

The title of the article is, When the risk is worth it: The inclusion of children with disabilities in free risky play.  It can also be found on ResearchGate and Academia.edu.  

Abstract

Children show a universal propensity to perform thrilling and exciting play activities that involve some kind of risk: climbing or jumping at great heights, swinging, playing or engaging in rough and tumble play. Free risky play, which can be observed also in several mammalian species, has an evolutionary function, as it offers the opportunity to learn life skills, to master age-adequate challenges, to manage fears. Reasonable risk taking in play is a fundamental factor in gross motor, cognitive and emotional development (Sandseter, 2011).

Adults’ concerns about children safety as well as social and environmental factors may severely limit children’s opportunities to engage in free risky play, compromising their overall health and wellbeing.

For children with disabilities, free risky play is even more crucial than for their peers without disabilities, but they often face major barriers (e.g. lack of accessible playgrounds, overprotective attitude of caregivers) that can prevent them from fully benefiting from the opportunities afforded by this kind of play experience.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the state of the art as regards studies on children with disabilities participation in free risky play, and to identify areas for further research.

Practical examples by Mary and Sally Jeavons were presented at the 2014 Australian Universal Design Conference. 

Taming the wilderness with inclusive design

A boardwalk traverses a rocky slope down to the lake making it accessible for everyone. Taming the wilderness with inclusive design.The natural landscapes of Norway conjure up pictures of fjords and wilderness with steep slopes. For some people, walks and bike rides in this natural environment aren’t possible. So one municipality of 1287 residents took up the challenge to create an activity park for everyone – locals and visitors of all ages. It was managed as a joint effort between the community and private and public partners. They tame

A man sits in a bike taxi which is being driven down a section of the boardwalk. Taming the wilderness with universal design.Residents had input into all the elements of the park including information signs and a BMX park. Local businesses were invited to tender for contracts, but some thought the investment too much. However, when tourism increased and the cafe trade increased the criticisms receded. The award winning Hamaren Activity Park now gets 10,000 visitors a year.

 

A child rides a BMX bike on the BMX track in the park.The article on the DOGA website provides more information: methods, observations and lots of pictures. There is also a video where the designers and users explain their experiences. It’s in Norwegian but has English captions. Below is a YouTube video without words.

The Stovner Tower is a similar project located in Oslo.

Playspaces: Adventurous and Inclusive

A small boy crawls over a branch laying on the ground. He is in a woodland setting and wearing winter clothes. Concepts of play can be designed into many different places – not just the standard urban park. Making play areas inclusive is becoming the norm now – not singling out specific play equipment for children with disability. And not calling them “all abilities” play spaces either. If they are inclusive they don’t need a special name.

We need to add adults into the design as well. Younger children only get to go if an adult takes them, and that adult might have a disability. That means moving away from the modular play equipment found in catalogues as the total solution.

Sanctuary magazine has a great article on nature play in parks and home gardens titled, Playspaces: Child’s play gets serious. Touched by Olivia has achieved many of its aims and is now part of Variety. The NSW Department of Planning has followed up on this movement with the development of the Everyone Can Play guideline. 

For academics, the Sanctuary article is also available from Informit.  

The adventure evolution

A boy and girl are in a forest and are assembling lots of fallen branches to make a hideout. Playspaces: the adventure evolution.Playspace designers have an important role to play in society. That’s because play is an essential part of human development.  And as society evolves so too should playspaces. In line with the concepts of universal design, playspaces are evolving and designers are improving as they go. Adventure playspaces are evolving too.

The recent move away from control and safety to adventure play offers plenty of room for creative designs. Recycled, natural or found materials rather than manufactured equipment allows for imaginative play.  It means a lot to parents to have an inclusive playspace for their whole family.

An article in Landscape magazine covers the topic of play and design features. It has several good examples to share although they don’t appear to be inclusive. Nevertheless, some of the landscape architects featured are making their designs more inclusive. The Evolution of Playspaces is an informative article for anyone involved in playspaces.

An article from Italy discusses the importance of adventure play and taking risks for children with disability.

An article from Denmark discusses the dangers of standardized playground equipment designed by adults with no input from children, who prefer to make their own play. You need institutional access for a free read.

Two small boys are crouched by the side of a pond and are reaching into the water. An example of the playspace adventure evolution..For more see a separate article on inclusive playspaces and the Everyone Can Play guide. 

See also Adventure play and children with disability for a research paper on the same topic.

No Obstacles in Playgrounds that are not only Accessible but also Inclusive is also a research paper. 

The Everyone Can Play website has a video where parents talk about what it means for their family to have an inclusive play space.

Inclusive Outdoor Recreation

A man with a backpack is walking down a path on a hillside. What does the international research on accessible nature-based tourism say? That’s what researchers in Sweden checked out.  Nine major themes emerged for inclusive outdoor recreation:

      1. employee attitudes towards people with disability
      2. accessibility of tourism websites and information systems
      3. accessible transportation, accommodation and tourist attractions
      4. technical solutions
      5. experience, motivations and constraints in tourism settings for people with disability
      6. tourism for the families and carers of people with disability
      7. tourism and leisure activities for older people
      8. the accessible tourism market
      9. nature-based tourism and outdoor recreation

This review found that existing research took the perspective of the consumer rather than the tourism operator. The report goes into more detail on the nine factors. It includes evidence from USA, Europe, UK and Sweden. The title of the report is, Enhancing Accessibility in Tourism & Outdoor Recreation: A Review of Major Research Themes and a Glance at Best Practice.

An very academic article, but with important findings. The key point – we need more research on businesses rather than consumers. 

Access to natural waterfronts

Timber planked pier leading to the ocean. Access to natural waterfront landscapes.Natural landscapes generally receive less attention than landscape architecture. So it is good to see that three Hungarian researchers have taken a serious look at the issues. Their study took the perspective of tourism and looked at tourist habits. They list some of the factors that need to be specifically considered for access to natural waterfront landscapes, including beaches.

The list of factors covers mobility, vision, and hearing. Parking and approach, jetties, pontoons, bathing, and fishing are all discussed. Several photographs show good examples of accessibility.

“If inclusive design and nature conservation principles are taken into consideration from the very beginning of the whole design process, access to waterfront landscapes can be spreaded [sic], and the natural values of the landscape remain existing and provide the experience of nature for the human race.”

The title of the article is “Access to Waterfront Landscapes for Tourists Living with Disabilities by Gabriella Szaszák , Albert Fekete and Tibor Kecskés. It’s open access. 

Swim, Sail, Relax

Front cover showing two people surfing in black wet suits. One is laying down on the board the other is standing on it.Having fun in the sand and surf is the iconic Australian pastime. But not everyone gets an opportunity to join in the fun and swim, sail and relax. The Association of Consultants in Access, Australia newsletter features articles and case studies on beach access, sailing, a resort for people with spinal cord injury, and provisions for people with autism. Plus the general news of the association. The articles mainly feature specialist activities and designs, such as the resort. But that is all part of creating an inclusive society.

The newsletter is available online where you can choose to view online through Issuu or download a PDF version (7MB).

 

Related to outdoor recreation is Agri-Tourism

People are looking at bright orange pumpkins piled in rows in a field on a farm A well designed conference poster published by Ohio State University encapsulates the key points. 

The poster poses this question: “Ohio has almost 700 farms with an agritourism feature, which brings visitors to vineyards, orchards, and corn mazes, but are these farms welcoming to everyone?” Using photos it explains how to make farms and vineyards more accessible to everyone. Tasmania also has an Agritourism Strategy, but it doesn’t say anything about inclusion and accessibility. 

Placemaking Toolkit

Children play with bubbles in urban area.Designing public space is not only for trained professionals. Because the Placemaking Toolkit shows how community groups and residents can do their own place make-over. The Toolkit is for community-driven, low-cost public space transformation. With the support of local government anyone can change a neglected space in their neighbourhood into a clean and safe play area or park.

This Guide is especially relevant for developing countries and remote communities in any country. The Guide is from the Public Space Network and includes case studies at the end. The introduction includes criteria for a good public space.

What makes a good public space?

1. Accessibility: Public spaces shall be well-connected to other places frequently used by people. They should be easy to get to, easy to enter, easy to move around, free and/or affordable for the vast majority.

2. Comfort: The place shall be kept clean and contain elements enhancing the comfort for its users. These can be seating facilities and dustbins painted in colours, and greenery (trees, loan, flowers) providing shade.

3. Safety: The space shall be well visible without any obstruction that could provide a hiding space for criminal activities. The space should be free of any illegal activities and the presence of motorized traffic shall be limited to avoid injuries.

4. Active use: Spaces become places when people use them. In an always empty space, people may not feel safe or comfortable. To encourage its social function, the place shall offer a wide variety of activities that can interest various types of users. The activities may include sport and leisure activities, such as space for boardgames and team sports, playground for children as well as a regular organization of community events – such as sports tournaments, concerts, fairs etc.

5. Walkability: Good public spaces provide opportunities for people to walk safely with minimal interruption from vehicles and other motorized transport.

Placemaking Europe

placemaking Europe logo. Yello background with a drawing of a hammer and nail.There’s another toolbox with extended resources from Placemaking Europe. It’s an open source collection of placemaking guides and manuals with lots of pictures. 

“The Placemaking Europe Toolbox is a collection of curated placemaking resources for all to access, learn from, and practice.”

 

Universal design and parks and plazas

Two people walk on a path that is edged with lots of greenery. In the background there are white cafe umbrellas. Universal design parks and plazas.Poorly designed spaces limit the number of people who can use them – they might look great, but that is not enough. Everyone should benefit from great civic space. The American Society of Landscape Architects has a great guide to Parks and Plazas. The online guide includes good case studies and easy to follow tips. Here are a few of the points covered. See the online guide for the rest. 

Connections to the street: Parks and plazas should meet the street at grade, ensuring that anyone can enter the space. When a grade change is needed, a choice of a ramp and steps creates a unified experience. Choose safe, slip resistant materials that are tactile and provide high contrast.

Clear identity: While maintaining a seamless entry from the street is important, creating a space separate from the street gives identity to the space. Trees can buffer noise and other sensory information from other areas.  

Providing options: Public places serve many different groups of people, with differing needs. One solution is not going to accommodate everyone, but the scale of many public places creates room for spaces that give visitors different choices and opportunities.

Ease of access to restrooms: Bathrooms that are easy to locate allow families with children, people with disabilities, and older adults to readily use facilities that everyone needs. Placing bathrooms near streets and along major pathways of parks makes locating restrooms easier if the need arises. Clear and regular signage to toilets are an essential part of enjoying parks and plazas. 

What is a great civic space? supports the parks and plaza guide. It looks at benefits of inclusion and the identity of place.  

Parks Designed for Inclusion

Open parkland with St Patrick's Cathedral Melbourne in the background.. Parks designed for inclusion.The Parks and Recreation Report does an excellent job of covering just about everyone in terms of age, level of capability, cultural background, refugee status and sexual orientation. Statistics on each of the groups help focus the mind when it comes to designing parks and recreation facilities.

The Report is a concise document emphasising that everyone can take advantage of facilities, programs, places and spaces that make their lives and communities great. Published by the National Recreation and Park Association. 

Also, have a look at Advancing play participation for all: The challenge of addressing play diversity and inclusion in community parks and playgrounds. This is an academic article which is also available on ResearchGate

Introduction to article: Outdoor parks and playgrounds are important sites of social inclusion in many urban communities. However, these playspaces are often inaccessible and unusable for many children with disabilities. This paper presents findings from a case study of one urban municipality in Ireland. The study aimed to understand play participation in five local playgrounds by exploring the perspectives of play providers and families with diverse abilities, through the lens of universal design.

 

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