University of Cincinnati

U UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI Date: I, , hereby submit this original work as part of the requirements for the degree of: in It is entitled: Student Signature: This work and its defense approved by: Committee Chair: Approval of the electronic document: I have reviewed the Thesis/Dissertation in its final electronic format and certify that it is an accurate copy of the document reviewed and approved by the committee. Committee Chair signature: Children’s power over play: A cultural geography of playspaces in America A thesis submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in the School of Architecture of the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning by Eleanor Luken B.A. University of Louisville June 2007 Committee Chair: David Saile Abstract The purpose of this thesis is to research the material culture of children’s play spaces in America and connect this architecture to society’s conceptions of children, childhood, and play. The chapter “The Study of Play” describes how parents and educators have changed in the way they value play. This chapter describes some of the tensions that exist between how children play and how adults think they ought to play. It discusses the dialectic relationship created as culture determines the form of play spaces and consequently as playspaces influence how children play, learn, and grow. The chapter “Lessons from History” describes the shape of playgrounds throughout recent American history. It begins with the reforms parks created by social reformers to socialize immigrant and poor children. It concludes that playgrounds today are part of the “recreation movement” in which playgrounds are the jurisdiction of parks departments and are largely determined by economic factors. The chapter describes two alternative movements, play sculpture and adventure playgrounds, that have left their mark on the form of playgrounds today. The chapter “Dens” suggests that playgrounds do not have to be designed by adults. It describes how social geographers research the “vernacular architecture” that children build for themselves in the form of “dens” (secret places). Children should have access to spaces so they can gain the many benefits from building their own playspaces. The chapter “Alternative Playground Model: Playscapes” describes an upcoming trend that combines the social mission of reform parks with the space and freedom for children to do their own building. In conclusion, playground design innovation should not be thought of as equipment design existing within the status quo system of park planning today. Instead, child and play advocates should continue research about the relationships between children and the spaces they inhabit. Researchers and planners should continue to explore ways that populations with differing interests, in this case adults and children, can share the city and hopefully mutually benefit. Table of Contents I. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................. 6 II. THE STUDY OF PLAY.................................................................................................................... 9 ATTITUDES ABOUT CHILDHOOD .......................................................................................................................... 10 PLAYING IN THE EVERDAY ENVIRONMENT ........................................................................................................ 16 III. LESSONS FROM HISTORY .......................................................................................................22 THE DOMINANT TREND ......................................................................................................................................... 25 Reform Movement ............................................................................................................................................. 25 Recreation movement...................................................................................................................................... 34 Today: Safetyconscious commercial play.............................................................................................. 38 ALTERNATIVE PLAYGROUND MOVEMENTS........................................................................................................ 42 Play Sculpture ..................................................................................................................................................... 43 Adventure Playgrounds................................................................................................................................... 50 IV. DENS..............................................................................................................................................54 STUDYING DENS ...................................................................................................................................................... 54 Review of Studies ............................................................................................................................................... 57 Summary ............................................................................................................................................................... 58 CONSEQUENCES OF BUILDING PLAY ................................................................................................................... 60 Social....................................................................................................................................................................... 60 Spatial Awareness ............................................................................................................................................. 62 Identity ................................................................................................................................................................... 63 Mental Health...................................................................................................................................................... 64 Work Ethic............................................................................................................................................................ 65 CONDITIONS AND BARRIERS ................................................................................................................................ 67 Spatial Autonomy .............................................................................................................................................. 67 Low Adult Intervention ................................................................................................................................... 69 Time for Free Play ............................................................................................................................................. 71 Loose Parts ........................................................................................................................................................... 72 CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................................................ 74 V. ALTERNATIVE PLYGROUND MODEL: PLAYSCAPES.........................................................76 PUBLIC HEALTH BENEFITS................................................................................................................................... 78 ROMANTICISM......................................................................................................................................................... 80 DISCUSSION ............................................................................................................................................................. 83 VI. CONCLUSION...............................................................................................................................87 VII. REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................90 I. INTRODUCTION This research began with the goal of creating design guidelines for developmentally appropriate playground design. This evolved out of two related fields of study. I expanded upon an interest from my undergraduate studies in art history about the potential for ludic behavior—playful, whimsical, irrationality—to counteract the hyper‐rationality of late capitalism. The Situationists were my primary source for both artistic and political inspiration. Their activities, such as derives, and the writings of Guy Debord attempt to subvert the dominant mode of production and consumption. Derives challenge the way city dwellers conceptualize their cities. Situationists might use a map of London to navigate Paris, making decisions about where to walk and when based not on the errands they need to accomplish that day but upon the transcendental experience of traversing the city. This psychogeograpy is an alternative way to view the niches and nodes of space and reject parceling and property values as the current logic of city space. Constant, a Dutch artist inspired by the Situationists (and a friend of the great playground designer Aldo van Eyck), designed a utopian masterplan of New Babylon, a home to urban nomads. Here inhabitants could change

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