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As adults and children engage less with their physical environments designers, architects and artists are finding inventive ways to lure them back outside.

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Words by Veronica Simpson

Article 31 of the United Nations Convention states that every child has the 'right to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child...'

When it comes to recreation and play, we suspect that the UN wasn't talking about a game of 'tennis' on the Wii, or being sucked into the latest X-box craze for hours on end.

According to design guidelines for neighbourhoods published in 2012*, 32 per cent of the UK's boys and 24 per cent of girls achieve the minimum recommended physical activity levels needed for good health - at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity a day. Anyone growing up in the Sixties, Seventies or Eighties will probably tell you they spent hours every week cycling along local roads and exploring parks or woods, usually unobserved. And we're all still here! Now, as the world becomes increasingly urbanised (the percentage of global populations residing in urban areas will rise from 54 per cent in 2014 to 66 per cent by 2050, says the UN) and our waistlines endlessly expand (more than 50 per cent of Britons are likely to be obese before 2050), it looks as if we have lost not just the childhood desire to play but the will as adults to explore and engage with our physical environment.

'People have forgotten how to gather,' complained Richard Wentworth, the artist who created a temporary, interactive theatre/ auditorium for his public art project, Black Maria, in the £2bn King's Cross development in 2013. Speaking to The Guardian newspaper in February of that year, Wentworth declared: 'We have a funny habit of anointing specific spaces in the city as "places people come".' Which is fine when the general sprawl and evolutionary mess of cities contains many established corners for rest, reconnoitre and recuperation - or even pockets of priceless neglect or wilderness that entice children to explore. But as large swathes of our cities become tidied up by developers and roads are widened for ease of transport our streets lose those informal gathering spaces.

Places for gathering, interacting with and observing each other are the lifeblood of vibrant communities, as Riccardo Marini, director of Gehl Architects said at a September 2014 Design Council summit, Active by Design. 'Indifference is the critical reason why we get the crap spaces that we have,' says Marini. Indifference is bred by developers and planners asking the wrong questions - those based around cost, speed and efficiency. 'What makes us healthy?' asked Marini. 'Positive human contact, hugging, fresh air, regular exercise... Play is not just for kids. I love observing so-called play parks where the adults are enjoying themselves as much as the kids. The minute you stop playing your stress shoots up. Play is about laughter, sharing, creativity. It's a mechanism that does something to us. Environments that promote human connection...engaging with other people - I consider that play.'

Increasingly, public art is having to step in and fill that vacuum - artists sensing that opportunities for physical, intellectual and social engagement are what we need most of all in our increasingly sedentary, screen-based lives. And Anna Strongman, head of public art at King's Cross developer Argent, is happy to facilitiate.

She says: 'One of our aims is to stop everything becoming too slick and shiny' - not the kind of statement you might expect from a developer, but the art at King's Cross is not the kind that you would expect either. In programming the buildings, intersections, streets and squares, Argent is trying to think more like one of the great London estates, says Strongman, whose custodians behave as 'stewards' of areas that they wish their occupants/tenants to feel a real, long-term sense of belonging to.

Strongman's job, in providing art and engagement in what is actually privately owned 'public' space, she says, is 'managing in an open and accessible way and encouraging people to [contribute] but retaining a level of quality and coherence'.

In commissions for the site, Strongman and her curators have been inspired by the guidelines that emerged from the now disbanded Design for London (LdF) advisory body, which until 2012 played a strategic role within the London Development Agency (LDA) - in particular, LdF's suggestion that neighbourhoods and streets should factor in 'playable space' wherever possible. This doesn't mean playgrounds, as such. Says Strongman: 'It's about leaving room for opportunity.' One of the most spectacular examples of this will be a natural pond - both swimming pool and ecology project - soon to be constructed at the north end of the Argent King's Cross site (see case study).

For its creators, Ooze Architects and Lubljana-based artist Marjetica Potrc, the pond is all about integration and evolution. They state: 'The water and the soil cycle use the plants' capacity to enrich and clean those different environments. By swimming in the pond and discovering the different zones or succession of micro landscapes, the human becomes part of those cycles and experiences the ability of nature to restore itself.'

As a piece of art, it doesn't have to tick any boxes for local authorities (though Strongman and her team had to jump through many health and safety hoops to allow people to swim in a naturally filtered pool environment). The bureaucratisation and designation of specific play spaces is what has caused the widespread poverty and segregation of play - we have children's play spaces, teenage play spaces (youth centres and adventure playgrounds), so what's left over for adults or for activities that span the generations? Leisure centres, shopping malls and pubs?

For play, interaction and engagement to be encouraged, streets need to be opened up and retrofitted to what they used to be. Gehl Architects has been doing a lot of that recently.

The firm has recently conducted major relandscaping of some of China's city streets to entice people into using them. In Chongquing, the practice has been reinstating small-scale neighbourhoods, bringing benches, chairs and tables on to pavements, opening up shopfronts, creating pockets of social activity and facilitating pedestrians and cycles. Marini sings the praises of medieval towns in Spain, where all ages will congregate in the squares at all times of the day or night - building in a natural supervision and surveillance that mitigates against teenage or young adult 'problem' behaviour. ''If you narrow things down to single age groups you don't get that natural regulation,' he says.

Meanwhile, playgrounds in themselves have become unnatural islands of intergenerational shared proscribed activity that are often empty of children. Noel Farrer, director of Farrer Huxley Architects and newly appointed president of the Landscape Institute, is unimpressed with the state of our playgrounds - a state that has been driven by local authority risk aversion and procurement processes. The design of public playgrounds, he says, 'usually... has nothing to do with looking to create a place that will provide the best quality place for play. It is nearly always driven by other factors. Risk in relation to litigation is the main one. And not far behind it is ease and cost of maintenance.

What that means is we now have a mainstream play supply market, where they provide bits of play equipment that are super, safe and will last forever. But they are not used - and from a council point ofsuccessful: a playground that isn't used is one that doesn't wear out.' The whole playground designation is an unnatural one, born of a mid 20th-century concern for the growing number of children being hit by cars as road traffic increased, says Mark Brearley, once head of the disbanded Design for London unit and now heading the Cass Cities programme at the Sir John Cass Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design, (part of London Metropolitan University).

Says Brearley: 'The whole idea of playgrounds relates to child safety and the disposition of playgrounds and schools in the suburban fabric - that they should be in calm, quiet, protected places away from the everyday life of the city. And now we find ourselves thinking that the reverse is a good idea. In the narrative around high streets I've been trying to construct, if you don't see old people and children you've got a problem. Where are the children, why aren't they part of everyday life, why can't they play in the everyday spaces?'

With alarm rising at inactivity and obesity levels, we can hope that urban masterplans soon start factoring in multi-generational areas for congregating, exercise, socialising and adventuring. In the meantime, there is a small revolution going on within the playground sphere. Once again artists are coming to the rescue - or a particularly interesting combination of art and architecture. Elger Blitz, of Amsterdam-based art/design/engineering collective, Carve, whose bold and sculptural pieces enrich many open spaces across Holland, says: 'We don't like directive play equipment at all because that's not playing.

We always say we design for children...but we design from the perspective of what we can contribute to the city or the urban fabric because playing is not only for children. We see play actually as a catalyst for a place, where it can start, and for some reason play is always taken over by the [playground equipment] industry and they come up with the same platform systems you see everywhere When asked to make a playground, we try to see what is going on in this place, over 24 hours. How do they meet or avoid meeting each other? Then we try to introduce the same elements but with a bit more social relevance and meaning.'

Where there are enlightened clients, amazing play spaces can emerge - for example, Carve was able to get away with putting rope bridges, walkways and rafts in water for its Sloterpark project in Amsterdam, because it placed most of the floating elements in a part of the lake that only swimmers can reach (see case study). Even disability-friendly playgrounds don't have to look like pieces of medical equipment: witness the blue sculptural 'blobs' in the Billie Holiday Playground (pictured) that offer burrowing, climbing, exploring and gathering opportunities that are usable even by children in wheelchairst while also creating a really strong, engaging identity for the park.

We can't all benefit from the collectivist, open-minded policies commonplace in Holland. And we can't envisage local authorities handing over all our playgrounds to inventive artist/ architects, funded through public art programmes. But Noel Farrer hopes to generate a new era of smart clients through a small think tank called The Banana Club, which includes suppliers, academics and local authorities.

He is planning a programme of public seminars in the hope that the message will trickle through - and if that fails, he can always try a trick of play expert Tim Gill's that Farrer deployed very successfully at a recent conference of the Association of Play Industries (largely makers of what Farrer calls 'bomb-proof bits of kit').

He took a quick poll on the play space that the delegates remembered best from their own childhood: the common themes were that they were all outside; there was no supervising adult in sight; and they bore no resemblance to anything that could currently commonly be regarded as play provision for children. The revolution starts here...

Case Study
King's cross pond club

The King's Cross Pond Club is part of developer Argent's recent 'Relay' public art programme, curated by Michael Pinsky and Stephanie Delcroix, aimed at animating different parts of the King's Cross development site and inviting engagement and interest in these new pieces of city as they emerge. Ooze Architects and Marjetica Potrc were invited to propose several ideas for the site, but the pond was chosen, says Ooze, 'because it had a strong reference to what King's Cross is about and what it represents: an urban space in transition, with a strong dynamic and will to engage with all parts of the social spectrum'.

Put at the northern end of the construction site, the pond - 10m wide and 40m long - is to be sunk into the landscape as if it had always been there; what's more, after two years, its contents will drain back into the earth. The structure, materials and planting of the pond are all aimed at a natural cycle of cleansing and balancing, utilising specific reeds, fine gravel substrate and mineralising bacteria, along with additional filters and recycling mechanisms.

Only as many people as the pond's self-filtering capacities can deal with will be allowed in the water at any one time, to encourage an awareness in the user of the balance between man and nature.

Graduated depths will facilitate different user groups: very small children will be able to paddle in a submerged deck zone separated from the swimming area by a net. A relaxation area will have a depth of 1.35m, while a third area for proper swimming will have a depth of 2.8m. Landscaping around the pond will be largely wild - the artist team wants to encourage 'pioneer' plants, which grow easily in harsh conditions and poor soil but are excellent at improving damaged or disrupted eco-systems.

The pond itself is intended as a 'pioneer' project - says Ooze, in that it will 'bring a difference to a place and the people who are using it. [Its] temporary nature enables us to break boundaries and bend regulations and standard procedures. Very often that is one of the reasons why those types of projects are so successful: because they are more focused and generous.'

Client: Argent
Curators: Michael Pinsky and Stephanie Delcroix
Architect and artist: Ooze Architects and Marjetica Potrc
Completion: Spring 2015

Case Study
Chongquing small-scale neighbourhoods

During the next 30 years an estimated 300 million people will move to China's cities, but the widespread implementation of Sixties-style car-centric planning in the past 15 years has had a catastrophic effect on the quality of urban life. Since 2008 Gehl Architects has been collaborating with the Energy Foundation on its China Sustainable Cities and Transport Programme, focusing on the links between urban development, public space, transport and sustainability at economic and social levels. In 2010, the practice was given the task of reshaping key streets in Chongquing, one of China's biggest and fastest- growing cities. In partnership with local design firms, a series of pilot projects have been implemented.

One, called Pedestrian Route 3, was redesigned to encourage walking and social interaction, with high-quality paving spread across the street, facilitating bikes and small vehicles but prioritising pedestrians; seats have been placed around trees (providing both rest and shade), tables and chairs are supplied for board games, as well as table tennis equipment. Shop fronts have been redesigned to be more open and interactive. The route was awarded the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development's sustainability prize for its contribution to the 'human, living environment'.

Now Gehl Architects has been given the green light to develop the entire downtown area, shifting emphasis from traffic flow to pedestrian connection, with a network of spaces, connected by human-scale alleys, and a harbour front of inter-linked recreational areas.

Client: Chongquing Planning and Design Institute; the Energy Foundation
Architect: Gehl Architects
Area: Evolving
Cost: N/A
Schedule: 2010 and ongoing

Case Study
Pop up Parks, UK

The brainchild of a group of educationalists, designers, performers and makers, Pop up Parks aims to increase opportunities for outdoor play and interaction, not just between under fives and play equipment but encouraging adult family members to participate in playful and creative activities with their children. Using a converted ambulance filled with props evolved over several workshops the Pop up team bedded down with regular events in several of the parks and public squares, forecourts and community spaces of Lambeth and Southwark during last summer, perfectiing skills and tools.

Using minimal and affordable props - such as chalk, plants, cardboard, wood, carpet tiles, coloured gaffer tape and foam - the playthings and games have been adapted for specific themes, such as 'physical activity', 'nature' and 'taking time out'. Social entrepreneur and educationalist Tom Doust, who runs education design consultancy Intelligent Space, says: 'In each community, our pop ups were vehicles to transform the environment into a more permanent space, placing children and families at the heart of the process.

Priory Green. Blue sculptural 'blobs' by Carve are in the Billie Holiday playground invite all children to use them, including those in wheelchairs, thanks to pulleys, poles and grips they can use to haul themselves up

So every community has [either] a legacy project in the form of improvement to the public realm or the community takes on the pop-up, and they run it themselves.

In Peckham Rye, we worked with a strong network of parents keen on continuing the pop up. Through co-design workshops we created a "Pop up Lock up" concept: allowing the pop up props to be stored safely and brought out when required.' The team is awaiting permission from Southwark Council to install one.

Doust is delighted with this response, as he had hoped from the early stages that they would end up with 'parents running Pop up Parks on their terms' as active 'park makers'. A matched control trial with 60 families in Peckham, with one group that had participated in the Pop up Park programme and the other that hadn't, revealed very positive indications: 77 per cent of parents in the Pop up group said they had learned a new outdoor play activity (compared with 27 per cent of the other group).

As part of the Design Council's Knee High Design Challenge project aimed at improving quality of life and health for under fives, it has been through three phases of mentoring and funding in order to evolve, hopefully, into a fully fledged enterprise.

Client: Design Council and Guy's and St Thomas' Charity through the Knee High Design Challenge
Design: Intelligent Space
Budget: N/A

 

Case Study
Play Islands, Amsterdam Forest

Carve, a studio of artists, architects, engineers and designers, has transformed many of Holland's least-promising public spaces into vital and inspirational areas for play and exploration. One of its boldest initiatives was at Amsterdam's Sloterpark, in 2012, where it expanded the children's play space right across a marshy area, a stream and a lake, through careful siting and design of play equipment. Floating platforms were placed in areas only confident swimmers could access - a risk made more justifiable since all Dutch children, from the age of four, are taught to swim through a compulsory school training programme.

Play Islands, Amsterdam Forest

Having proved the success - and safety - of such a scheme, in 2014 the studio went further with an extensive water play area in Amsterdam Forest. Three existing play islands were upgraded to facilitate roaming and exploring: rope bridges, balancing tree trunks, and swinging ropes; children can go from island to island, choosing either the dry route or the wet route. These islands are visible from across the other side of the lake, inviting children to visit and engage with the most exciting playzone in the region.

Client: Municipality of Amsterdam
Design: Carve
Completion: May 2014

Case Study
Baltic Street adventure playground

Having won a public art commission as part of Glasgow's Commonwealth Games 2014 Cultural Programme, public art agency Create London together with London-based art and architecture practice Assemble went looking around the east end of Glasgow - the area where the Games were staged - to find a site in need of an intervention.

They chose a site in Dalmarnock, where dilapidated tower blocks had recently been flattened to make way for the Velodrome and the Athletes Village. Says Create director Hadrian Garrard: 'It turned out that the play facilities for kids were really poor.

They had lost a couple of football pitches and community shops. Long-term the plans for the space look sound - in 10 years' time, the area will look great - but at the moment, if you are a three-year old, then essentially your childhood is being spent on a building site.'

Assemble did research in athe UK and across Europe, looking for solutions to the restrictions on children's freedom in urban environments. Through local workshops, a participatory design development team was formed, with two local unemployed young people working alongside Assemble to help lead the construction work and take an ongoing role in decisions.

The underpinning concept is of a play space that can be continuously constructed and reconstructed: design elements include a water feature that can become a dam, a paddling pool, or filled with rocks. A treehouse made by local children and the Assemble team in the initial workshop has had various elements added to it and will continue to evolve. A tunnel was created from the fashioning of a hill.

Says Assemble's Anthony Engi Meacock: 'It had to seem considered and designed and non-institutional - no iron railing fence. Instead we have a narrow slat fence, which looks quite considered, accessible and friendly. The palette (wood, mud, grass, cement) was also established by what could be built and adapted on afterwards, allowing almost anything to take place.'

Half of the budget for the overall programme went into capital work, the other half is going into revenue for funding. A play worker is in place, and the hope is that local businesses, institutions and families will take on the fundraising and maintenance to create a lasting community asset, run according to a constitution drawn up by Assemble and the community.

Client: Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014 Cultural Programme
Design: Assemble
Producer: Create
Cost: £300,000
Opened: October 2014