Natural playscapes : quality principles for designing urban outdoor play environments

Abstract: Play is one of the most important factors in children’s physical, mental, emotional, and social development and as such it is important to both an individual child and to society as a whole. This thesis concerns with the quality of public urban outdoor play environments as they are one of the most important settings designed for these purposes and big part of urban landscape planning. This is a theoretical review based on literature studies including research and expertise of professionals in various fields, especially landscape architects, urban planners and environmental psychologists. Firstly, this paper briefly discusses current types of play spaces usually provided and points out their inadequacies, addressing some issues regarding negative impact on the development of children. Further on, this paper discusses children’s perception of their environment and their preferences for play spaces drawing upon researches relating to “The theory of affordances”. Lastly, but most importantly, this paper concludes with general quality principles as well a key qualities essential when designing urban outdoor play environments based on children’s actual needs and preferences. Natural environments (natural environment elements in the regard of urban space) meet these criteria for successful and high-quality outdoor play space. As such, benefits of integrating natural elements within play spaces to enrich children’s play experience and promote their positive development are determined. Further on, this paper briefly discusses the impact of integrating natural elements within the play space on children’s positive emotional connection with the natural world and their environmental awareness.