Playground equipment-Friendly Cities, Build Play Beyond the Playground
Playground equipment-Friendly Cities, Build Play Beyond the Playground
Darell Hammond builds playgrounds. From spiral slides to mini rock walls and giant games of tic-tac-toe, his non-profit KaBOOM! is known for its thousands of community-centric parks. But as childhood screen time and obesity rates rise, he’s been forced to ask an odd question about his kid-friendly structures. In Hammond’s words: “What if kids aren’t playing on them?” What if building big, beautiful playgrounds isn’t enough?
A new report released today, “Using Behavioral Economics to Create Playable Cities,” by the non-profit suggests a fascinating alternative. Instead of setting spaces aside for play, why not integrate them into the streets, sidewalks and bus stops people use every day? If the park isn’t a destination — if it’s a bus stop in the shape of the word BUS that kids can lounge, jump and slide on — then they end up playing during their daily commute. And quick-access structures integrated into city streets could both keep families from leaving for the suburbs and encourage them to bike, walk and take the bus instead of driving cars.
Like grocery stores, bike lanes and even crosswalks, play spaces tend to be one of the things that adds 20 years of life to wealthier zip codes, and don’t exist in poorer ones. But the report, conducted jointly with ideas42, delves into some of the psychological barriers that can also limit access, using a lens called “behavioral economics” to see “how people make decisions in a complex and textured world where details matter.” Using this approach to evaluate interviews, researchers drew out the decision, “I will take my kid to the park” like a slow-motion scene, allowing them to see every rapid-fire thought in high definition.
Darell Hammond builds playgrounds. From spiral slides to mini rock walls and giant games of tic-tac-toe, his non-profit KaBOOM! is known for its thousands of community-centric parks. But as childhood screen time and obesity rates rise, he’s been forced to ask an odd question about his kid-friendly structures. In Hammond’s words: “What if kids aren’t playing on them?” What if building big, beautiful playgrounds isn’t enough?
A new report released today, “Using Behavioral Economics to Create Playable Cities,” by the non-profit suggests a fascinating alternative. Instead of setting spaces aside for play, why not integrate them into the streets, sidewalks and bus stops people use every day? If the park isn’t a destination — if it’s a bus stop in the shape of the word BUS that kids can lounge, jump and slide on — then they end up playing during their daily commute. And quick-access structures integrated into city streets could both keep families from leaving for the suburbs and encourage them to bike, walk and take the bus instead of driving cars.
Like grocery stores, bike lanes and even crosswalks, play spaces tend to be one of the things that adds 20 years of life to wealthier zip codes, and don’t exist in poorer ones. But the report, conducted jointly with ideas42, delves into some of the psychological barriers that can also limit access, using a lens called “behavioral economics” to see “how people make decisions in a complex and textured world where details matter.” Using this approach to evaluate interviews, researchers drew out the decision, “I will take my kid to the park” like a slow-motion scene, allowing them to see every rapid-fire thought in high definition.
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