The International

Journal
the HUMANITIES

Volume 5, Number 4

Public Spaces for Play: Creating Natural Playspaces

for Children 8-12 years in Urban Landscapes that
Support Free, Imaginative and Creative Play

Barbara Chancellor

www.humanities-journal.com

in ORGANISATIONS,
COMMUNITIES
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Public Spaces for Play: Creating Natural Playspaces for Children
8-12 years in Urban Landscapes that Support Free, Imaginative and
Creative Play
Barbara Chancellor, RMIT University, Victoria, Australia

Abstract: The importance of connecting children with nature has dramatically increased over the last generation. Children
in modern urban environments no longer play freely outside, all over the neighbourhood and beyond. Today children's
scheduled lives often incorporate sendentary downtime. The implications relate to both physical and mental health. Access
to public natural playspaces where children can learn a myriad of life skills through play is the responsibility of today's
adults. More importantly however, is the provision of playspaces that appeal to children. This presentation explores the
essential features of playspaces and illustrates why so many public playgrounds are devoid of children.

Keywords: Outdoor Play

HE FOCUS OF The Fifth International playspaces largely devoid of children? With the oc-

T Conference on New Directions in the Human-

ities is to forge new directions in humanities
by celebrating dialogue between and across
epistemologies, perspectives and content areas. This
paper links the areas of Aesthetics and Design with
the Pedagogies of Learning by looking specifically
at current common themes of playspace design in
urban landscapes. This paper investigates the import-
ance of providing natural playspaces for older chil-
dren in modern urban landscapes that support free,
imaginative and creative play. Interlinked with issues
of public playspace provision is the importance of
connecting children with nature.
Over the last generation, children in modern urban
environments no longer play freely outside, all over
the neighbournhood and beyond (Lester and Mauds-
ley 2006, Louv 2005,Vic Health 2005). Primary
school aged children who once used “after school
time” exploring and learning about their world, today
operate on heavily scheduled timetables, as predicted
by Elkind (1981) over 20 years ago. These modern
lifestyles often incorporate sedentary downtime, in-
doors (Veitch, Ball, Robinson and Salmon, 2005).
The implications relate to both physical and mental
health (Clements 2005).
In Australia, city councils spend very large
amounts of money providing public playspaces for
children. Every city neighbourhood has one or more
playgrounds, usually sitting on fairly large expanses
of land and always including expensive prefabricated
climbing equipment. It is clearly a priority of coun-
cils to budget and provide for local children’s play.
For observers of playspace design and use, the
question quickly emerges, why are these public
casional exception of supervised pre-schoolers,
playgrounds are empty. As Hart (2005) comments,
with regard to playgrounds in urban USA, “they are
great places for people walking dogs”. The same is
true in urban Australia.
A 2003 Melbourne study interviewed parents from
a range of socio – economic areas and uncovered
common attitudes with regard to the free play of
older children in the 8 – 12 years age bracket, in the
outdoors (Veitch et al 2005). The main concerns
expressed by parents were the safety issues around
“stranger danger” and also a fear of physical injury
whilst children are playing away from home. Parents
were also concerned about children crossing busy
roads and using public transport. It was noted in this
study that children with friends living nearby were
more likely to play outdoors together. Another signi-
ficant issue identified was the low level of independ-
ence of children who had been raised with a high
level of adult supervision. Importantly many children
said that what was offered in their local parks was
uninteresting and boring and this can be linked with
the attitude of many children in the study who simply
could not be bothered going outside to play.
Findings such as those described, linked with an
abundance of anecdotal evidence, lead to two major
questions, what types of outdoor playspaces will at-
tract older children to play and how can these
playspaces be provided in an affordable manner by
communities and local councils?
Importantly, in today’s modern society, it is an
urgent matter that we motiviate children to engage
in active play. Many studies have shown over recent
years, that we are raising a generation of children

THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE HUMANITIES,

VOLUME 5, NUMBER 4, 2007
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56 THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE HUMANITIES, VOLUME 5
who will not have the same life–span as their parents,
due to diseases associated with obesity (Clements
2005). In human history this is a “first”. Hugely
concerning also, is the direct link between sedentary
lifestyles and deteriorating mental health (Meller,
Townsend, Brown and St. Ledger, 2002).
Linking children with the natural world is an im-
portant factor relating to the well being of children
(Chawla 1988). Wilson’s Biophilia theory (1984)
explains that humans evolved as creatures deeply
enmeshed with the intricacies of nature, and that we
still have this affinity with nature ingrained in our
genotype. Today in urban Australia, it is possible for
children to spend their early years completely discon-
nected from the natural world. Australian pre school
children commonly spend their days in Child Care
Centres where the outdoor door area is usually
completely plasticised (Australian Institute of Family
Studies 2006). Connecting children with the natural
world through their play will not only result in im-
proved mental health (Meller et al 2002) but will
also raise awarenes of the natural environment in our
next generation of adults.
Investigating the play needs of older children will
aid in the provision of stimulating and attractive
public playspaces for older children. Chancellor
(2007) describes a range of characterisitcs of play
for children in this age bracket. Play should be unsu-
pervised to allow children to develop independence
and increased opportunity to take responsibility.
Older children need opportunities to create and be
in control of their environment in an unsupervised
way. Challenge and risk in older children’s play,
with uncertain outcomes, not only requires children
to develop coping skills but, importantly, will main-
tain their interest in the play. Older children need
opportunities for physical play for aerobic and anaer-
obic exercise as well as gross and fine motor skill
development. Problem solving opportunities in con-
struction activities is also valuable for older children.
Importantly, the social competencies of negotiating,
arguing, interpreting, verbalising will be enhanced
through collaborative play actives where a range of
personalities and cultural perspectives are en-
countered. Rough and Tumble play (Pellegrini 1989)
with its links to social cognition, particularly in boys,
is an important type of play that is desireable in older
children. When older children play in these ways in
natural playspaces, opportunities for sensory experi-
ences that will be remembered throughout life will
occur (Joy 2002).
This understanding of older children’s play needs
leads us to ways of providing for older children’s
play in the urban environment. Places with high af-
fordances for play must include a range of features.
Firstly, playspaces must be dynamic, with opportun-
ities for ongoing change, in contrast to current play-
grounds that are static and look the same today as
when they were built. This gives children a wide
range of possibilities for open ended play and results
in children having a sense of ownership. As previ-
ously mentioned, in order to maintain their interest,
children need to choose and direct their play. When
playspaces include natural materials, children’s play
can move in diverse directions rather than in pre de-
termined ways. Natural materials are not prescriptive,
a stick can be anything a child chooses from a writing
tool to a magic wand.
When considering playspace design, it is critical
to remember that, whilst it is possible to list older
children’s play needs, for individual children, these
needs are everchanging. Importantly, whilst a piece
of fixed climbing equipment may be of interest for
a while, new challenges and opportunities will soon
be sought by children. This is supported by Veitch
et al (2005) who found that many children said they
were bored with what was on offer in parks. This
need is well catered for by the Adventure Play-
grounds in Eindhoven, Netherlands, where the fixed
features like a wooden boat and flying fox, are set
in natural places with water, grass, dirt and rocks. In
this type of environment children have the opportun-
ity to direct their play in endless ways.
In Karmoy, Norway adults have found inexpensive
ways of catering for older children’s play needs and
importantly, allowing children to take risks in their
play. In this school playground children have the
opportunity to swing on tyres suspended by rope
from trees, to balance across ropes between trees and
to play among rocks and undulating natural land-
scapes, using natural materials in their play.
Returning to the natural parklands of Melbourne
as places with the potential for older children to play,
and identifying ways of facilitating this play, may
result in an increase in the number children playing
in these areas. Natural places provide opportunities
for children to explore and discover new and interest-
ing things about the world. Drawing on Heldelberg
Park and Banyule Flats to illustrate this point, a
number of useful examples can be made.
The swampy areas found at Banyule Flats Reserve
include a range of water plants and creatures for
children to investigate. Memories flood back of
catching tadpoles and other creatures in jars with
friends as we explored such environments through
our play. The potential for children to explore and
learn in this way is still available at Banyule Flats.
A wide variety of loose materials with high play
value collect under the trees in Heidelberg Park.
Unfortunately these are seen as messy and are regu-
larly tidied up. Adults and children view the world
differently and children do not always value the order
that we adults like to create (Chancellor 2007). For
children, the scattering of leaves and seed pods may
 BARBARA CHANCELLOR 57

prompt a playful response and with minor changes
to parks management, natural materials could be
collected and offered for play to children rather than
being efficiently disposed of.
As previously mentioned, through sensory exper-
iences children make meaning of their world. The
link between sensory experience and memory making
(Joy 2002) suggests a deeper aspect to the learning
occurring as children play in the natural world. Car-
son (1956) wrote about our childhood experiences
of the natural world as being “radioactive jewels”
within us that remain with us throughout life. Playing
with natural materials also provides endless oppor-
tunities for problelm solving through trial and error
and experimentation, nuturing in children life skills
of perseverence and collaboration. Adults who
relflect on their own “cubby building days” are likely
to recall the valuable learning of life skills that resul-
ted. It is important to acknowledge that in public
playspaces, a collaborative effort between adults and
children is required for outcomes that are innovative
and inspiring. True collaboration such as this is quite
rare but, is the essential pathway to follow when play
needs of older children are considered in relation to
aspects of public playspace design, construction and
maintenance.
Hart’s model (1997) is a valuable guide to those
wishing to work in a collaborative manner on
playspace design. He explains that usually young
people are manipulated during the planning and
design process or are used by adults in a tokenistic
way. Rather than simply consulting and informing
children, adults can join with children to initiate ac-
tion and share in the decision making processes. In-
volving members of the local comommunity at all
stages of design, construction and maintenance, will
result in unique playspaces that incorporate local
natural features and celebrate communities. This is
illustrated in the work of Shaffer (2005) in Berlin
where every playspace created by communities under
his guidance, is a unique celebration of a community,
with no two playspaces looking alike.
When questioning the absence of older children
from public playspaces today, the vital missing link
is the importance of assessing the success of
playspaces in a meaningful way. As adults we have
designed artificial playspaces for children to use. As
communities we spend vast amounts of money in
the provision and maintenance of neighbourhood
playgrounds, we have kept them neat and tidy and
removed all elements of risk. We are now faced with
the reality that many older children are choosing to
stay indoors, engaged in sedentary activities with
resultant negative health issues. Very few older
children are playing in our public parks and play-
grounds and we must now find ways of encouraging
them into the natural world for play because of the
benefits this will provide for their physical and
mental health.
Communities can continue to pay large sums of
money for prefabricated climbing equipment with
low affordances for play or they can encourage
children to climb and develop their skills in natural
settings. The natural world offers unique designs,
seasonal changes, local identity and, most of all, fun
and possibilities.

References
Australian Institute of Family Studies, (2006). Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children
www.aifs.gov.au/growingup
Carson, Rachel, The Sense of Wonder. Harper and Rowe, New York, 1956, reprinted 1984.
Chancellor, B. (2007). The changing face of play in Australian primary school playgrounds, Doctoral Thesis, RMIT University,
Melbourne.
Chawla, L. (1988).Spots of Time: Manifold Ways of Being in Nature in Childhood, in P.H. Kahn and S.R. Kellerts (Eds.),
Children and Nature, Massachusetts; The MIT Press.
Clements, R. L. (2005). Is there room in education for physical play? Paper presented at the 16th IPA World Conference,
July, Berlin.
Elkind, D. (1981). The hurried child. Mass:Addison-Wesley Publishing Company Inc.
Hart, R. (1997) Ladder of Participation. See UNICEF Working Paper Series The Participation Rights of Adolescents: A
Strategic Approach, August 2001.
Hart, R. (2005) Keynote Address, 16th International Play Association World conference, July, Berlin.
Joy, Christine, (2002). The Delight Factor, Interpretation, Journal of the Association for Heritage Interpretation, Summer
2006, Vol. 11, No.2.
Lester, S. and Maudsley, M.J. (2006) Play, Naturally. London: Children’s Play Council.
Louv, R. (2005) Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature Deficit Disorder, Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin
Books of Chapel Hill.
Meller, C., Townsend, M., Brown, P., and St Leger, L. (2002). Healthy parks, healthy people: the benefits of contact with
nature in a park context, pp1-77, Deakin University, Austalia.
Pellegrini, A., (1989). Play and Culture, Vol. 2, pp. 354-356.
Schaffer, Norbert. (2005). Landscape architecture. Paper presented at 16th International Play Association World Conference,
July, Berlin.
Vic. Health, (2005). Newsletter, Summer, Issue 24.
58 THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE HUMANITIES, VOLUME 5

Veitch, J. Ball, K. Robinson, S. Salmon, (2005) J. Where do children play? A qualitative study of parents’ perceptions of
influences on children’s active free-play. Health & Place, in press.
Wilson, E.O. (1984). Arousing Biophilia, Harvard University Press, Cambridge: Mass.

About the Author

Dr. Barbara Chancellor
I am a lecturer in the School of Education and my research interests include children’s learning through play
and the provision of playspaces in early childhood settings, school playgrounds and public open spaces.
THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE HUMANITIES

EDITORS
Tom Nairn, RMIT University, Melbourne.
Mary Kalantzis, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA.

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Patrick Baert, Cambridge University, UK.
David Christian, San Diego State University, California, USA.
Bill Cope, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA.
Mick Dodson, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
Hafedh Halila, Institut Supérieur des Langues de Tunis, Tunisia.
Ted Honderich, University College, London.
Paul James, RMIT University, Australia.
Moncef Jazzar, Institut Supérieur des Langues de Tunis, Tunisia.
Eleni Karantzola, University of the Aegean, Greece.
Bill Kent, Monash Centre, Prato, Italy.
Krishan Kumar, University of Virginia, USA.
Ayat Labadi, Institut Supérieur des Langues de Tunis, Tunisia.
Greg Levine, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
Fethi Mansouri, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia.
Juliet Mitchell, Cambridge University, UK.
Nikos Papastergiadis, University of Melbourne, Australia.
Robert Pascoe, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia.
Scott Schaffer, Millersville University, USA.
Jeffrey T. Schnapp, Stanford University, USA.
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Columbia University, USA.
Giorgos Tsiakalos, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.
Siva Vaidhyanathan, New York University, USA.
Hortensia Beatriz Vera Lopez, University of Nottingham, UK.
Chris Ziguras, RMIT University, Australia.

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