EDINBURGH’S city streets are to be transformed into an urban playground as part of a festival of architecture event that aims to get people thinking about how to make public space more child-friendly.
At the Edinburgh Playscape event –part of the Architecture Fringe festival – Stockbridge Market Plaza will be transformed by landscape architects this Saturday into a temporary play space with the help of tyres, logs, tarpaulins and other building materials. Children will be encouraged to build assault courses and dens or use their imagination to create their own structures and play places.
READ MORE: Why a place for kids to play outside helps to make for happier childhoods
The event also hopes to inspire adults and children alike to take a more playful approach to urban space, with visitors given a map and ideas for ways to play in every day places in Edinburgh. Alternative “play-grounds” suggested by the team include St Andrews Square with its seasonal planting and a shallow water pool, the terraces at the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood, Rocheid Path along the Water of Leith and Dunbar’s Close Garden off the Royal Mile.
Wiktoria Szulik, landscape architect at Wardell Armstrong LLP which is running this Saturday’s event, said the practice was inspired by its work in creating natural outdoor learning environments for schools and nurseries.
She added: “The Edinburgh Playscape event is all about promoting outdoor play for all children, particularly in an urban environment, which is often designed without them in mind. The event highlights the importance of nature and outdoor play for all children, and explores how it can be accessed by anyone, all around Edinburgh.
“Having first-hand experience of the benefits that outdoor play brings to children we wanted to push this concept further into the public eye in a fun, interactive way.
“The best part of being outside is that anything can be anything, and something is always happening. Things like sticks, leaves or pebbles can become art or building materials and children have a full opportunity to learn through play – all are important lessons as they can develop independence, friendships, imagination and skills.”
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She said the project aimed to inspire families to take a different approach to using urban space, where outdoor play is not always encouraged. “With rising urban populations, pressure on space and public health issues such as rising obesity, many studies have explored the positive link between nature and our health and wellbeing,” she said.
“This is particularly true for children, who may not always have the means to be outside, or an environment that is safe and suitable for them.’’
Leading architect Malcolm Fraser, said the call to make public space more child-friendly was over-due. He said play in public places was often discouraged, with metal studs to stop skateboarding, ball games forbidden and mosquito devices installed to prevent young people hanging out together.
“We treat our children very poorly,” he added. “When my kids were young they would be harried by the police for just meeting their pals in the park.
“As an architect, when I showed a village green at the heart of a new neighbourhood the developer told me to remove it, as ‘children might play there’. Perish the thought! I fought and fought – it was public money financing it, after all – and was finally allowed it, as long as we mounded it “so they couldn’t play football”. Perish another thought.
“The reality is that our children have never been so well-behaved and considerate, yet we seem scared of them, and harry and chase them till we drive them indoors. Then we complain about how they’re glued to their screens, and how unhealthy they are.”
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