Hostile Spaces
Play spaces for children are often designed to be as safe as possible, sometimes even described as “lawsuit proof.” These spaces are not the best for children as its lack of risk can cause children to seek out more dangerous action than modern playgrounds were designed for.
London Adventure playground, 1960. Warning: Mild violence and toy weapons
In Europe, and some parts of the United States, so-called Adventure Playgrounds or Junk Playgrounds have appeared. These play areas developed during the Second World War in Copenhagen, where Architect, Carl Theodor Sorensen, first noticed children making use of scrap materials and abandoned areas for playing. Comparing riskier playgrounds in London, England to safer playgrounds in San Francisco found that kids are 18% more physically active in London.
The idea behind adventure playgrounds is that risk management is a crucial skill for children. Adventure playgrounds feature tools like hammers, nails, and saws for children to use and build their own play structures. Allowing children to create structures puts them in control of their own risk, they are given the ability to create a play environment that has a risk level comfortable to them.
The playground at Van Saun Park in Paramus, New Jersey, Wiki Commons
Many of these playgrounds have paid staff to ensure that nothing gets too far out of hand, but, for the most part, they won’t intervene. Signs instruct parents to not offer advice. Rebecca Faulkner, Executive Director of the nonprofit that runs The Yard, an adventure playground in NYC, puts it best in saying that “children are better at figuring out how to have fun than many adults who build playgrounds for them.”
These spaces give children a place to call their own, something that they often attempt to carve out in the urban landscape. Many older people have fond childhood memories of unsupervised and less organized play areas.