When you imagine a playground, chances are
it looks something like this. There’s usually a slide, a bridge, and a
high point with a domed roof. That’s what makes this a playground, and
this, and this. But what about this? This isn’t a junkyard. It’s called an adventure playground. Here, there are no plastic play structures
– just things like old tires, wood planks, hammers and nails. Places like this represent one of the most
debated ideas in play architecture: that playgrounds should be designed to let kids take more risks. Now, this nightmare for helicopter parents
is the hottest new thing in American playgrounds, because there’s growing evidence that play
like this is a whole lot healthier — and safer — for kids. They can play with very dangerous
tools, they can take really dangerous risks and overcome
them. And this fills up a tremendous sense of self
confidence in themselves, which is really quite fascinating to watch. That’s Marjory Allen. She was a British landscape architect and
children’s welfare advocate around the middle of the century. In 1945, she visited Copenhagen, where she
met an architect named Carl Theodor Sorensen. Two years earlier, during the German occupation
of Denmark, Sorensen noticed a problem: kids in his neighborhood weren’t using playgrounds. In fact, they were playing just about everywhere
else — even in construction sites and bombed out buildings. So in a housing development in the suburbs
of Copenhagen, Sorensen closed off an empty lot and filled it with building materials,
discarded objects, and tools. Here, kids could dig, build, and invent on
their own. The play structures were ultimately designed
by the kids themselves. Sorensen called it a junk playground — and
kids and parents loved it. When she returned to England, Marjory Allen
started opening similar playgrounds across London. And she renamed them: from junk to adventure. From there, they became a global phenomenon. They spread to Minneapolis, Boston, Toronto,
Tokyo, Houston, Berkeley, Berlin. And to create these playgrounds, designers
had to introduce a critical element: Controlled risk. In this context, a risk isn’t the same thing
as a hazard. When you’re climbing a tall tree, a rotten
branch is a hazard: the threat is unexpected. But how high you climb is a risk: it’s manageable,
and requires you to actively make a decision. You can break the elements of controlled risk
down into six categories: heights, speed, tools, dangerous elements, rough and tumble
play, and the ability to disappear, or become lost. And a good adventure playground includes a
mix of these. Designers also focus on separation of space. To give kids the feeling of discovering things
on their own, parents have to stay out. That can mean installing a physical barrier
— or providing things like restrooms, cafés, and seating, so that parental experience isn’t
an afterthought. Finally, designers fill it with loose parts. These are the manipulatable objects — the
planks, barrels, bricks, and tools — that fuel risky play. The idea behind all these design elements
is that kids respond well to being treated seriously: if they’re presented with risky
items with a serious functional purpose, they’ll respond cautiously and conduct more experimentation. But if presented with an overly safe, static
space, they often wind up seeking dangerous thrills that the built environment fails to
provide, which can result in higher injury rates than risky play at adventure playgrounds. In the US, a culture of lawsuit-proof playscape
design means that overly safe playgrounds are the norm. And design philosophy has focused on how to
reduce height, movement, and hard materials. That hasn’t made playgrounds better. When Marjory Allen visited American playgrounds
in 1965, she called them “an administrator’s heaven and a child’s hell.” But adventure playgrounds have recently begun
to catch on in the US — perhaps due to an effort to introduce more unstructured play. And their construction comes with a fair share
of criticism. “They’re making kids play with hammers
and nails — that’s not adventure, it's just work. They’re tricking kids into building their
own playground. Adventure playgrounds do have downsides: They’re
pretty ugly, they require a lot of space, and they need resources to staff and maintain. And as with any playground, there is opportunity
for injury. But the underlying philosophy of risky play
can help kids live better lives. For one thing, riskier playgrounds encourage
more activity. A study comparing playgrounds in London, where
risky play spaces are popular, to those in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York found
that children using London’s playgrounds were up to 18 percent more physically active. The London playgrounds were cheaper and boasted
fewer injuries, too. And multiple studies have shown that children
who engage in risky play have better risk detection, creativity, and self esteem. The playground is one of the only kinds of
architecture designed specifically for children. And if the standard model we’ve decided
on is seen as boring by its users — that’s a problem. Better design can fix that — even if it’s
a little risky. I had to look through so many pictures of playgrounds for this story that I decided to use Wix to create a website collecting all of the ugliest and saddest pictures of playgrounds that I could find. And now I have a perfectly curated arrangement of pictures of playgrounds next to graveyards and slides leading into dumpsters and whatever these kid-friendly statues are. If you're looking for a simple way to share your passion about broken infrastructure or whatever it is that you're into these days, you should absolutely head to Wix. To create your own website just like this, click the link below. Wix does not directly impact our editorial, but their support makes videos like this possible. So check them out.
It would be even better to just let kids roam around by themselves and do whatever they want, does it work that way in US rural areas?
I remember doing some crazy stuff with other kids in the semi-rural south american place I grew up in and nothing serious ever happened to anyone.
Advantages include what is mentioned in the video, fostering exploration but also exposure to pathogens and minor injuries, both probably good for you.
The most important thing is that parents today actively teach their children to be weak and to suffer, if a kid falls from his bicycle and makes his knees bleed but nobody is watching I can almost guarantee he will not cry or suffer much at all, just stand up and carry on but if the mother is there and reacts with anything more than a smirk like exaggerated care / nurture etc. the kid will quickly learn to suffer for affection.
I've actually seen it happen in real time, a kid reacting to a fall like any animal would until the mother came running and screaming and made him cry too. Backwards world.
Now that I think about it there was even something pleasurable about minor injuries, it "tensed" the body and gave energy to eg. keep pedaling even faster.
Grew up near one of the London 'adventure playgrounds' mentioned here but never knew the history so that's interesting.
The two I knew weren't as radical as this made it look, no hammers and nails but basically just bigger, wilder and more fun than the basic style and still fun up to like 12-13 as opposed to, I dunno, 8. The 'explore/get lost' angle is also very accurate, was a big junglish space and rumours about scary clowns in them. Huge tyre swings definitely a big plus. Area still has outrageous obesity rates though so no obvious effect there.
...I haven't watched the video, but I literally heard Vinesauce say something like this in jest on stream tonight. Is this a trending topic, or have the fates simply aligned?
As a kid in a small town, the awesomest thing was raiding the shut downf actory with some friends. Heck, I should look some up nearby an get to parkour. Thanks OP!