Making Atlanta a Playful City

Cynthia Gentry Play Atlanta Park Pride March 21, 2016

“Play is a fundamental part of life; it is a biological, social, cognitive necessity for individual children, but also has benefits for society and the human species.”

Declaration on the Importance of Play (2014) International Play Association: Promoting the Child’s Right to Play

If Atlanta is to be a great city in which to live, designing great places for children to play freely must become a top priority.

“Play is the answer to how anything new comes about.” Jean Piaget “Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But, for children, play IS serious learning.” Mr. Rogers “Almost all creativity involves purposeful play.” Abraham Maslow

Is play important?

Free play is child led. It comes from within.

The Big Rule: Allow for child-led play

(aka free play).

But, how do you design for free play?

1.) Design for with the “client”.

These are often your clients.

Ask the children for ideas.

They know what they are talking about.

As all cities (including Atlanta) get denser, more children will not have easy access to parks. We must take the play to wherever they are.

2.) Make the whole city playable.

Paris Copenhagen

HakoneOpenAirMuseum,Japan

Chicago

London Paris

Let parks spill out into the city.

Let children spill out into the city.

Note to nervous parents: Getting wet is rarely the end of the world. It’s kinda fun.

Adults and children often get along quite well in the same space.

3.) Let artists release magic all over the city.

Boston

Magic is remembered for a lifetime.

4.) Blow up the idea of what a playground looks like.

The Changing Face of Urban Play

Paris

Japan

London

New York: loose parts play

5.) Blow up the idea of what a schoolyard looks like…. And, while you’re at it, let children have more (much more) recess.

A city alive with play is a great place to live.

If it works for children….

…it may work for grown-ups, too.