Providing play through design

Traditionally, the provision of play (especially for children) has been limited to specific zones, such as parks, playgrounds and sports facilities. But these are not the only – nor always the preferred – places people play in. There is growing awareness of the need to better provide time, space and freedom for play in our cities. Dr. Damien Puddle, Local Play Advocate, Invercargill City Council, explores how landscapes can create play opportunities through design.

Traditional play, recreation and sports facilities are a great starting point, but they cannot be the endpoint for play in our cities. There are examples of playful/playable designs incorporated with art and infrastructure in cities throughout the world.

Unfortunately, these are the exception, instead of the rule. In fact, children’s voices are often underrepresented in local government and, although a growing number of resources demonstrate how to make cities more playable and child-friendly, few directly influence city planning in a way that embeds play across all local government layers.

Even when these wonderful examples are held up as great case studies, or even best practice, the inclusion of play and other elements, such as art and landscaping, is often the last to be added and the first to be removed.

With this in mind, local government and their partners, including landscape professionals, need a tool at their disposal to:

• Understand how play can be enabled in non-traditional locations and assets that wouldn’t have previously considered play.

• Span project timelines and professions so play is considered every step of the way, and

be able to be incorporated within strategic documentation including district plans, technical regulations, policies, and strategies

Play opportunities through environmental design (POpTED)

POpTED is that tool. Modelled off CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design), POpTED is a five-principle approach that distils the key considerations for creating a quality non-playground play opportunity.

At the start of a play development process, POpTED draws attention to the child’s right to play. Throughout the process, it provides important people-centred considerations to maximise urban design function and participation. At the end of the process, POpTED is the measuring stick to see what has been achieved for play. These principles have been developed for application at any stage of design and can support developers, planners, project managers, architects, landscape architects, designers and landscapers to ensure these important play topics have been addressed.

It will not always be possible, or even necessary, to incorporate all POpTED principles to achieve a great play opportunity, but consideration must be applied to them at the beginning of – and during – a project, and justifications given if they cannot be achieved.

1. Multipurpose design

   
   

Cities should not just be functional but also adaptable and invite opportunities for informal play. This can be achieved by designing spaces and assets that can be used for several activities, depending on need and desire. This could include street furniture and landscaping arranged to enable play, designed using materials that can withstand regular interactive use, or other novel layouts and features applied to traditional infrastructure.

Unfortunately, play is not palatable to everyone. Multipurpose features, however, can make a

fun and playable city for everyone who likes to play, with less chance of offending various city stakeholders. Ultimately, this is the foundational principle that POpTED is based on.

2. Permission

   
   

Play can be encouraged by providing implicit or explicit invitations to explore, via intentional design choices and wayfinding. Multipurpose spaces can sometimes fall foul of social norms and conflicting interpretations that undermine our intent. To solve this, we need to design permission to play into our work. This can be implicit, through obvious and inviting landscape features that promote playful interaction; or explicit, through signage.

3. Journey

   
   

Design choices increase the overall network of easily accessible and playable spaces and encourage playful active travel. We already have a strong focus on destinations (eg, homes, work, shops, recreation facilities, etc.) so attention must be given to how the journey between these spaces can be more fun and better connected. Design choices should not only support active travel connectivity and improve access; the routes should include playful features that entice people to take those routes.

4. Context

   
   

Play opportunities are relevant to their environment and offer seamless integration across settings. The type of play experience matters and should relate to its place-based context (ie, proximity to schools, shops, universities, retirement villages, museums, etc.). This ensures that play opportunities are relevant to the local community. Further, as play can occur in a variety of settings, the integration of these spaces can create a seamless and engaging environment as people transition between them.

5. People

   
   

The play needs of as many users as appropriate are considered and social inclusivity between groups is promoted. Things like age, sex, culture and physical abilities influence play needs and desires, so the last principle is about the user demographics – who might use the space and what their needs are. This includes the important stories that need to be told lay types to suit different preferences, such as more challenging play for youth and adults; or amenities that support users and their caregivers to stay for longer.

Ultimately, the recommendation here is to consider as many users as appropriate, though not necessarily everyone. For instance, in play, children should always be the first priority, because their voice is the most absent from city planning and design, and they have very little ability to exercise control over what opportunities they can access.

Landscaping plays a vital role in delivering on the POpTED framework, especially in the overlooked in-between spaces that often sit outside of formal infrastructure. These are the planted, paved, shaped and edged areas that are often landscaped, but not always designed for use.

But when landscaping is done playfully and with intention, it transforms these spaces into rich, layered environments that invite interaction and imagination. Rather than passive beautification, landscapes become active invitations, such as stepping stones that lead somewhere, planting choices designed for touching, or shapes and mounds that invite movement.

For more information, go to damienpuddle.com/popted