Category Archives: Urbanism

Exploring some of London’s most playful spaces and places

Four girls in Spa FieldsWe only had ten or twelve people take part over the two days, but I’m still buzzing after last weekend’s Open House play space tours. Why?

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In the wake of the London riots, we must not tar all children with the same brush

© Rudolf Abraham

I live in one of the areas hit by the London riots. On Sunday night, at least ten shop windows in my local High Street were trashed. Shops at the end of my street have been closing early for the past few days, as a “precautionary measure”. Continue reading

Want to hear about road closures for play?

A nice audio news piece on road closures for play, as broadcast on the BBC Radio 4 programme PM on Weds 3 August 2011. Featuring the wonderful people at Bristol’s Playing Out campaign, some local Bristolians, and yours truly.

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World through a windscreen?

Today is Playday, the annual play celebration. I am going to take a step back from the festivals, the Council fun days and the PR campaigning, important though they are. Instead, I want to explore one of the reasons why so many children are losing out on the opportunity to play outside in the first place: the car.

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The outdoor child should be an ‘indicator species’ for London

pond dippingMy new draft report  Sowing the Seeds: Reconnecting children with nature calls for the outdoor child to be seen as an ‘indicator species’. The report, written for the London Sustainable Development Commission (the body that advises the Mayor of London on sustainability) argues that, just as with salmon or house sparrows, the presence of children out of doors should be seen as a measure of the quality of neighbourhoods, London Boroughs and the capital as a whole.

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