Playing in Public

 One element of public infrastructure that I think is critically valuable to developing a culture of people existing outside in community is space for play--specifically but critically, not exclusively for children.

Or at least, not in a way that makes it weird for adults to be present in those spaces if they're not immediately visually attached to a child. We get weird enough about adults and kids together in our society (intergenerational connections are actually kind of important?) but I can see the reason why a wholly-child-centric space with non-attached adults makes people less than fully happy. So urban spaces should have space for both.

Today I want to highlight some examples of what I have liked in some parks I have been to.

1. Effective Use of Unused Space

Let's start with a personal favorite: the downtown park and parklike spaces in Toronto.

This could be a very narrow skyscraper, but otherwise it's not really going to get a lot of use: it's right next to the expressway and it's a narrow space between two streets. 

It's ideal for a park though: it's narrow for buildings but wide enough that no kid is automatically running into the street, and it's long so you can actually have a whole lot of vaguely-connected stuff in the space without it feeling cramped.

There's obvious kid architecture here but also places for people to sit, meditative spaces, and if I recall correctly even a pull-up bar. 

It's an effective use of space that might otherwise be lesser used, and it's a good intergenerational space. It's also big enough that no one feels crowded (though when we were there it was pretty empty, so...no one could have been crowded--hopefully it fills up at other times).

2. Path Integration

Another common technique I see is integrating these spaces into the neighborhood of multiuse paths, as here in Lincoln:

This, itself, is a kids playground: swings, play structure, obviously intended for your 5-12 year olds (and effectively younger, but the city's liability requirements mean it's labeled for 5 and up). 

But you can see the connection to the larger path system that is a bike path along a waterway, and there's a bench in the picture.

A reverse angle on the structure gives you the covered pavilion in the background as well, which is close enough that a parent can supervise older kids from a distance but far enough away that I've seen completely un-playground-related groups happily eating in it while kids play on the structure, with neither group bothering the other.

All in all, it's an effective area for allowing people to exist in public together, all facilitated by that close proximity to the pathway.

3. Fine, Green Space Rocks Too

I can't leave this topic as is without admitting that, for all that built environments can contribute to this, actual green space is considered a key part of the urbanist fabric for a reason.

I do prefer the kind of green space though that, as here in Croydon above, has some shade built in (both trees and structures), paths demarcated, and a little bit of care taken to make sure that people aren't just being tossed into an open patch of grass and told to make do.

You don't need to have a whole laundry list of available activities and buildings like here in Vanier Park, Vancouver, but it helps to have something more than just open space. 

Green space is refreshing, it's multiuse (from kids playing around to organized cricket, below, from Stanley Park in Vancouver):

And to top that off it's good for the lungs of the city.

So while I am all in favor of infrastructure that helps facilitate play among kids and adults, sometimes even I have to admit: green space is usually better than too much design.